How to shade text fields (NOT form fields) in Acrobat

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
May 2, 2024
3 replies
2438 views

I have a Word document that I need to convert to pdf. The Word document has multiple cross-references to page numbers (e.g. p.23), and the hyperlinked numbers are shaded. However, when I use Create PDF to generate the PDF, the shading disappears. The hyperlinked cross-references still work, but there is no formatting to indicate to the reader that they can click on the page number to go to the desired location.

The only information I can find about shading of fields in Acrobat relates to fillable forms, but this is not a form - it is just an ordinary document.

This topic has been closed for replies.

maxwithdax

Community Expert

You should have a Word Style for hyperlink or CrossReference. You can apply an underline property to that style to give the user a visual cue the item is clickable. If you want shading you can add a highlight in the Borders property panel for the style.

Abambo

Community Expert

What happens when you print the document (or one page of the document for the test) on a standard printer? Does the shading remain?

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

H

Helen3593618792nkAuthor

Participating Frequently

Interesting ... when I print the Word document, the shading of the hyperlinks does not show

Abambo

Community Expert

Creating a PDF from a Word document is equivalent to printing that document. It is Word taking away this shading. It is only a visual clue for the document creation. Unfortunately, that is not exactly what you want.

Either you will need to mark the fields manually or you need to create a script doing that for you. If the hyperlinks have an automatic style attached, you could also check if it is possible to add real shading to the style.

ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer

try67

Community Expert

So how do these links work? Are they Link objects? If so, they have no shading options. Only buttons (a type of form fields) do. Alternatively, you can add the shades in Word as a graphic, and then they should be kept when converted to PDF.

H

Helen3593618792nkAuthor

Participating Frequently

No, they are not Link objects. They are cross-referenced page numbers. There are over 600 of them in the document, so it would not be feasible to add a graphic to each.

try67

Community Expert

You need to do it in the original file format, then.

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