Known Participant

Answered

Stop text fields from auto-merging

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
June 1, 2021
4 replies
7093 views

I am creating a form with labels next to check boxes. I needed to move some objects around. A) Why can I no longer group select by dragging around multiple objects? Now I have to move each object seperatly?

B) Why on earth do these individual text boxes keep automatcally merging into one another when I DO NOT WANT THAT!!!! How do I make that stop? TIA!

Correct answer try67

Because that's how it works. Formatting is applied to a full value, not one that hasn't been applied yet, since it changes the way the user's input appears. That would be very confusing if it happened while they were typing.

My previous reply here was not relevant to the question asked, which is: Why?

The answer is because these "text boxes" you're seeing don't really exist in the file. Acrobat interprets the text and tries to combine various parts of it to chunks that make sense, but this is not a 100% accurate process, and can never be. So if it sees two strings close to each other it "thinks" they probably belong together and "merges" them to one element. If they are further apart it might "think" they are not related and keep them as separate objects. This is a by-product of the fact that PDF files were never meant to be edited in this way in the first place.

L

Lillian38969107mjdq

Participant

Okay I figured it out!!! You add the text lables and content in "Edit PDF" mode. Once you have the text where you want it add the fields, check boxes etc in "Prepare Form" mode. To move text return to Edit PDF mode and then back to Prepare Form mode to move any of the fields.

try67

Community Expert

You're using the wrong terms. What you're adding are not text fields, but static text.

L

Lillian38969107mjdq

Participant

I am having the same issue and it is so frustrating and time consuming! I understood your question perfectly so I am not sure why "Text Box" is vague. Any text I add to the form and move around auto merges as one larger text box with multiple text that I indended to be singular. I add the text and then when I move the text to another location it auto merges with the neighboring text. Hope to get a solution on this - I have gone through all the properties and preferences and there is not a setting.

W

WFLF Hockey

Participant

@CoolMoeZ , did you ever figure this out? Its driving me nuts too.

C

CoolMoeZAuthor

Known Participant

Hi @WFLF Hockey , no I didn't. I was assigned other projects and this fell by the wayside.

try67

Community Expert

A) What kind of "objects"?

B) You can't do that, and you shouldn't edit PDF files in such an extensive way in the first place. Make the changes in the original document and then create a new PDF file from it. Doing it in Acrobat is asking for trouble.

C

CoolMoeZAuthor

Known Participant

A) Object - anything I add to the form - check box, text field, radio button - objects. I want to be able to move the checkbox WITH the label together to maintain the distance between them once I have it perfected. Or a group of check boxes and labels in a line, as. many state forms have. I want to keep them all aligned to bottom as well as the spacing in between but I need to move them over to make room for something the state added.

B) This IS the original document. I cannot risk launching it in Word as that hijacks spacing, fonts, alignments and out existing field code from HotDocs. Basically converting to edit text makes a mess. Based on the way adding text fields as worked in Acrobat FOR DECADES, this should be somthing Adobe can control. There is no reason for a user to completly lose control of her objects. It is a severe waste of valuable time.

try67

Community Expert

I think I misunderstood you. Are you referring to form fields, or static contents, or something else (like comments)? You wrote "text boxes", which is a bit vague, but now you're referring to fields... If they are fields then please explain what you mean by "merging them", exactly.

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