How do I change the fill/background color of a text box in Acrobat Pro 2026

Hello @HappyTeacher_63

I hope you are doing well, and thanks for reaching out. We're sorry for the trouble you had.

Could you please share more details about the issue/workflow, and can you confirm what kind of object it is?

1. Form text field: it appears/selects when you go to All tools > Prepare a form.

2. Comment/annotation text box or callout: it was added as a commenting markup.

3. PDF page-content text: it becomes a blue editable text block when you select Edit in the global bar.

4. Also, are you on Windows or macOS?

Suggestions:

If this is a form text field, fill/background colour is supported

If the “text box” is actually a fillable Text Field form field, use the form field properties:

1. Open the PDF in Acrobat.

2. Select All tools > Prepare a form.

3. Select or right-click the text field and choose Properties.

4. Open the Appearance tab.

5. Set Fill Colour to the background colour you want, or keep it transparent.

6. Select Close.

7. For more details, please check this article: https://adobe.ly/4pvNXe2

For new form text fields:

1. Go to All tools > Prepare a form.

2. Use the Add Text icon in the Prepare Form toolbar.

3. Click where you want to place the field.

4. Double-click the field, then set the colour in Properties > Appearance > Fill Colour.

If you want the same look for future form fields, after setting the field the way you want, right-click the form field and choose Use Current Properties as New Defaults. Please note that these new default properties apply only to future form fields you create; existing fields keep their current settings

If this is an existing form text field in a received PDF

You can change the fill colour only if the field is still an editable form field and the PDF’s security/signature status allows editing:

1. Select All tools > Prepare a form.

2. Select the existing text field.

3. Right-click it and choose Properties.

4. Go to Appearance > Fill Colour.

5. Choose the color and close the dialog.

6. If you don’t see Properties while right-clicking, make sure you are in Prepare a form mode.

If the PDF is secured or digitally signed, editing may be restricted. Adobe’s edit-PDF help states that certain features are restricted in secured PDFs, and signed PDFs are locked to prevent changes.

If this is a comment text box/callout annotation

For comment text boxes, the controls are separate from Edit PDF. Use the Select text tool from the Quick action toolbar, double-click the text box comment, and then use Set or change properties for the selected text to change available text-box/comment properties such as text color, alignment, and font attributes.

1. Select Draw freehand from the Quick action toolbar.

2. Select Text callout.

3. Place the callout.

4. Use Set or change properties for the selected text from the Quick action toolbar to modify the colour and appearance.

5. Important: this is the comment/markup workflow. If you specifically do not want to use comment tools, then this is probably not the object type you want.

If this is PDF page-content text edited with the Edit tool

If the box appears only after selecting Edit in the global bar, it is likely a PDF page-content text block, not a form field or comment box.

For page-content text, please check this article for more information: https://adobe.ly/4pDCREa

Please note that Acrobat’s background feature is page-level, not a fill inside an individual text box. A PDF supports only one background per page, though backgrounds can vary from page to page. So if your “text box” is page content, the behaviour you’re seeing is expected: Acrobat can edit the text and its text colour, but the official Edit PDF workflow does not provide a documented “fill inside the text box” control for that page-content text object.

If none of the paths above show the option, please share a screenshot and a screen recording of the workflow after selecting the box and note whether it appears under Prepare a form, the comment/markup tools, or only under Edit. If the PDF is secured, signed, flattened, or the “text box” is actually page content from another authoring app, the fill/background may need to be changed in the original source file or recreated as a supported Acrobat object, such as a form text field. Also, if possible, share the PDF file with us for testing purposes.

Let us know how it goes, and share your findings. And please reach out if you need any assistance.

Regards,

Anand Sri.