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joes16161309
Participant
October 17, 2017
Answered

Selecting, copying, and pasting multiple text boxes in Acrobat DC

  • October 17, 2017
  • 13 replies
  • 39437 views

I just upgraded from Adobe acrobat Pro to DC.  In the older version, I was able to select multiple text boxes at once, copy them, and past them without any problem.  I was also able to select multiple objects that I made (lines, etc), AND text boxes at the same time to copy and paste.  Under the older version, I selected multiple text boxes / objects by holding down the Ctrl key and selecting the multiple objects.  Now, I seem to only be able to select 1 text box at a time to copy and paste, and even so, I don't seem to be able to select any text boxes with objects at the same time to copy and paste.  If I hold the Ctrl key when I try to select multiple text boxes, it only reverts to the most recent text box, and that's it.  I am still learning DC and like many of the features that seemed to have improved upon the older versions, but not being able to use the multiple select feature in the newer version is confounding me.

Thanks for any help / answers.

Correct answer Anand Sri Bhattacharya

Hello ​@motivated_master9627 

 

I hope you are doing well, and sorry for the trouble you had.

Please note that the Add Text tool under Edit a PDF adds text to the page content itself, it becomes part of the document, like editing the original text, not an annotation. That is exactly why it does not appear in the Comments List and why you cannot select and copy the boxes as objects to move to another file. Acrobat's edit-mode copy is oriented to within a document; page-content text boxes are not designed to be selected as a group and pasted into a different PDF.

And the Select Object tool you found under Rich Media is for interactive objects, form fields, links, buttons, and multimedia, not page-content text. That is why it does not grab your added text. It is not the tool for this.

 

Use the Comment tool's text box instead of Edit > Add Text. Those are annotations, so they:

Show up in the Comments List, and
Can be copied and pasted, including into another PDF.

 

The tool is Comment (All tools > Add a comment) > Add text comment / Text Box. To copy them across documents, the reliable method is to select the comments in the Comments pane, copy, switch to the other PDF, and paste. One known quirk worth knowing: when pasting a text box comment onto the page, do not click first to position it, just paste, then move it, otherwise it can refuse to drop. You can also move a whole set at once by exporting the comments to an FDF/XFDF file and importing them into the other PDF (Comments pane > Options > Export/Import Data File), which is ideal for reusing the same set repeatedly.

 

For text you reuse often, a Custom Stamp is even better: turn your boilerplate into a stamp (Comment > Stamps > Custom Stamps > Create) and drop it onto any PDF in one click, no retyping.

 

Please check these articles for more information:

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/edit-text-pdfs1.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/desktop/share-and-review-documents/review-documents/add-comments.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/importing-exporting-comments.html

 

I hope this helps, and please reach out if you need any assistance.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

 

 

 

 

13 replies

motivated_master9627
Participant
August 27, 2026

This has still not been solved.  I added a number of separate lines of text to a pdf document using the Add Text tool.  Now I want to select these various text inputs/boxes and copy them to paste on another pdf document to save having to retype everything.  However, I cannot select and copy the text boxes, either individually or select multiple boxes. Using the Select Text tool only jumps into the text to modify it, or selects the text box, but I cannot copy the box.  Select Object tool (why is this in the Add Rich Media section???) does not select the text.  These text inputs/boxes do not show up in the “Comments List” to copy from there.  I am pretty sure older versions of Acrobat could do this.  This is a simple and straightforward operation in Foxit.  It seems pretty basic to me and is a function that should be added or made available in Acrobat.

Anand Sri Bhattacharya
Community Manager
Anand Sri BhattacharyaCommunity ManagerCorrect answer
Community Manager
August 27, 2026

Hello ​@motivated_master9627 

 

I hope you are doing well, and sorry for the trouble you had.

Please note that the Add Text tool under Edit a PDF adds text to the page content itself, it becomes part of the document, like editing the original text, not an annotation. That is exactly why it does not appear in the Comments List and why you cannot select and copy the boxes as objects to move to another file. Acrobat's edit-mode copy is oriented to within a document; page-content text boxes are not designed to be selected as a group and pasted into a different PDF.

And the Select Object tool you found under Rich Media is for interactive objects, form fields, links, buttons, and multimedia, not page-content text. That is why it does not grab your added text. It is not the tool for this.

 

Use the Comment tool's text box instead of Edit > Add Text. Those are annotations, so they:

Show up in the Comments List, and
Can be copied and pasted, including into another PDF.

 

The tool is Comment (All tools > Add a comment) > Add text comment / Text Box. To copy them across documents, the reliable method is to select the comments in the Comments pane, copy, switch to the other PDF, and paste. One known quirk worth knowing: when pasting a text box comment onto the page, do not click first to position it, just paste, then move it, otherwise it can refuse to drop. You can also move a whole set at once by exporting the comments to an FDF/XFDF file and importing them into the other PDF (Comments pane > Options > Export/Import Data File), which is ideal for reusing the same set repeatedly.

 

For text you reuse often, a Custom Stamp is even better: turn your boilerplate into a stamp (Comment > Stamps > Custom Stamps > Create) and drop it onto any PDF in one click, no retyping.

 

Please check these articles for more information:

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/edit-text-pdfs1.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/desktop/share-and-review-documents/review-documents/add-comments.html

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/importing-exporting-comments.html

 

I hope this helps, and please reach out if you need any assistance.

Regards,

Anand Sri.

 

 

 

 

Mystical_Dazzle880d
Participant
August 27, 2026

Good afternoon Anand,

Thank you very much for your informative response on why what I was doing couldn’t work, and clear directions on how best to proceed.  This will be a great help.

Cheers!

jesse_0971
Participant
October 29, 2025

I'm really struggling with this too and wasting an insane amount of time.  Basic functionality like this seems to be missing from even the paid version of Acrobat.  And for some reason all interface conventions used in software in general and other Adobe prodcuts has been throw out the window.  Amazing that this is made by the same company that also makes quite good software like Photoshop and Illustrator.

j.breitigam
Participant
July 7, 2022

For anyone else with this problem,

 

I am still looking for a better solution, but you can copy all the text in a highlighted area regardless of the division between text boxes by clicking the cursor button, highlighting the text, and hitting ctrl/cmd+c. Clicking the cursor button will force you out of the editing tool, so you have to click the edit button again before pasting it into a single text box, but this is the only reliable method I've discovered.

 

I hope this helps someone else, but please let me know if you find a better way 😊

alisonm24786714
alisonm24786714
Participating Frequently
August 22, 2022

Hi there

 

I am new to Adobe Acrobat, but I do use InDesign and Photoshop. All I can say is that I am shocked at how appalling this software is. I can't believe it is owned by the same company that produced tools like the aforementioned software.

 

But, I think I might have found a way to copy a section of a PDF by, essentially grouping the text and formatting and then pasting it into a new document or new page in the existing one. It's counter-intuitive, but it worked for me.

 

What I did was choose the crop tool from the edit PDF menu. In the crop tool I drew around the boxes I needed and then hit cmd+C (I use a mac). I then opened a new document and pasted this in and it was all there. Hope this is helpful.

    Gravityflyer
    Participating Frequently
    October 16, 2023

    Agreed. Acrobat in general -- but especially the new UI -- is incredibly cumbersome and not very intuitive. 

      codya2300250
      Participant
      December 4, 2017

      So I think I found the solution to this. You can't select multiple boxes by holding Ctrl and clicking on the actual text boxes. But you can by  clicking on the them in the "Comments List".

      ATHPROCTOR
      Participant
      February 20, 2025

      They mark this as solved but it's not. As jr.cl mentioned, the comments idea doesn't work with all content. All I want to do is move some text in an existing PDF. It now won't let me select the text boxes all at once. There's got to be a better solution, and I can't even drag to select because it's reading the background as an image and won't let me lock it either. This is so dumb.

      Tariq Dar
      Legend
      February 26, 2025

      Hi @jr.cl, 

       

      Sorry for the troubled experience and delayed response. 

      If you are using the New Acrobat experience try disabling the new Acrobat experience: https://adobe.ly/3XjDFkv. and then try. 
      If the issue is still reproducible, could you please record your screen and show us exactly what you are trying to achieve? Then, upload the recording to any Cloud Drive - Google Drive, One Drive, etc.- and share the link with us. That will help us discuss the case with the product team. 

       

      Let us know if you have further questions. 

       

       


      ~Tariq

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