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dmantse
dmantse
Known Participant
July 14, 2017
Answered

"Edit PDF" bounding boxes

  • July 14, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 42036 views

After use Adobe Pro DC create PDF form, in "Edit PDF" it will try to some text into a bounding boxes. I want to ask:

1. After create PDF bounding boxes text is messy, it always put different "Word" into same group, it's hard to maintenance or move the text.

2.I have try to split the work into different bounding boxes, but after reopen and edit PDF, it group different bounding boxes into one.

Such as attached screen, It group different text into one, it's difficult some text to different position

[Moved out of the Forum comments forum (which is for issues with these forums themselves) and into a product-specific, support forum by a moderator]

    Correct answer Karl Heinz Kremer

    The grouping that is applied by Acrobat when you try to edit text is not something you can control. Acrobat tries to group related text together. We don't know exactly how Acrobat decides what is related, this is all handled internally (and again, without any way to control it from the outside). Even though Acrobat provides some level of text editing, these features are best used for small edits (e.g. correct a typo, replace a word, ...), for anything on a larger scale it's always best to go back to the original application that was used to create the document, which then got converted to PDF. Use InDesign, Word, Pages, ... or whatever application you've used to create the document in the first place. If you don't have access to the original file, then try to export the PDF file to e.g. a MS Word document, make your changes in Word and then convert back to PDF.

    2 replies

    J
    Jamie Benigna
    Participant
    January 31, 2020

    I've had some success with using Edit pdf, seeing the bounding box, and putting a bunch of blank lines in between the items I want to separate using the Enter key.  Then I switch to the Measure tool, make a measurement or two.  Delete the measurements.  Go back to Edit pdf, and the large spaces break the bounding box into two boxes.  

     

    It's circuitous and a bit tedious, but if you don't have the original file and need to add spaces in a pdf, it works.  I often have to edit a couple of pages in a large, multi-page file, and this allows me to do that.

      Karl Heinz Kremer
      Community Expert
      Karl Heinz KremerCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      July 14, 2017

      The grouping that is applied by Acrobat when you try to edit text is not something you can control. Acrobat tries to group related text together. We don't know exactly how Acrobat decides what is related, this is all handled internally (and again, without any way to control it from the outside). Even though Acrobat provides some level of text editing, these features are best used for small edits (e.g. correct a typo, replace a word, ...), for anything on a larger scale it's always best to go back to the original application that was used to create the document, which then got converted to PDF. Use InDesign, Word, Pages, ... or whatever application you've used to create the document in the first place. If you don't have access to the original file, then try to export the PDF file to e.g. a MS Word document, make your changes in Word and then convert back to PDF.

        S
        Steve_8004
        Participant
        September 10, 2024

        How can we permanantly un-check the "show bounding boxes" box?

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