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Acrobat: How to move a group of text boxes which appear on all pages of a document

New Here ,
Jan 25, 2025 Jan 25, 2025

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I am using Acrobat Pro version 2024.  
I am new to Acrobat, so my question is probably very elementary.


Ultimately I want to crop off the white margins from a large PDF document. I found a nice video on the subject by Erin Wright Writing   at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mINPTO3EhbY
However I am not able to crop off as much as I want, because there are some text boxes at the top of the page about 1/2 inch above the first line of body text.


Note:
This PDF was generated from a DOC file, which contained a Header. The Header contained the following.
(1) Title of book
(2) Title of section
(3) Page#
These three elements became text boxes in the PDF file, and these are the things which I would like to move (on all pages).


Anyways, I went into the Editor and moved the text boxes on the first page to get them closer to the first line. However I don't know how to get the change to apply to all pages.

Question: Is there a way to apply the changes to all pages?


Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Learn how to crop PDF pages in Adobe Acrobat. Plus, learn how to return cropped PDF pages to their original size. Acrobat's Auto-adjust layout option can conflict with the Crop Pages tool. So, the bonus section at the end shows how to disable Auto-adjust layout. These steps apply to Adobe Acrobat
TOPICS
Edit and convert PDFs , How to , Modern Acrobat

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1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Community Expert ,
Jan 26, 2025 Jan 26, 2025

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- Use the Redact tool to remove text zones on all pages.
- On the first page, recreate text zones using “text” form fields.
- Select these text fields and right-click: Duplicate on all pages.
- Flatten the document (to remove the fields objects and inlay their content in the page layout).

 

It shouldn't take you more than 10/15 minutes.

If you're having trouble with any of the steps, you'll find plenty of explanations in this forum. Otherwise, don't hesitate to come back and ask questions in this topic.

And above all: work on a copy of the document!

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Community Expert ,
Jan 26, 2025 Jan 26, 2025

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Generally I would advise to make such big changes likes moving text boxes in the application the PDF was created in your case this would be MS Word. Do you have access to that document? This would be the fastest way to move all of those text boxes. The manual way in the PDF would be to copy the element from the first page, where you adjusted it, and paste it onto the other pages. Depending on how many pages you have it will take the respective time to do it. At the moment I cannot think of an automated way to do it in the PDF.

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New Here ,
Jan 26, 2025 Jan 26, 2025

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Thank you for responding. No I do not have access to the source document in Word.

 

The manual way in the PDF would be

> to copy the element from the first page,

> where you adjusted it, and paste it onto the other pages. 

> Depending on how many pages you have

> it will take the respective time to do it. 

 

It's a 6 hundred page book. To do it manually will take hours, if not days.

I wonder if there is a way to tell Acrobat that a certain portion of each page should be treated like an entity. 

In my case the area extends from approx about 3/4 inch above the first line of body text to 1/2 inch.

Then once that area is defined I could move it.

 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 26, 2025 Jan 26, 2025

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- Use the Redact tool to remove text zones on all pages.
- On the first page, recreate text zones using “text” form fields.
- Select these text fields and right-click: Duplicate on all pages.
- Flatten the document (to remove the fields objects and inlay their content in the page layout).

 

It shouldn't take you more than 10/15 minutes.

If you're having trouble with any of the steps, you'll find plenty of explanations in this forum. Otherwise, don't hesitate to come back and ask questions in this topic.

And above all: work on a copy of the document!

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Community Expert ,
Jan 27, 2025 Jan 27, 2025

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Thanks @JR Boulay for this great trick. As @CE707070 is new to Acrobat theses are the steps to “flatten” a PDF file:

With Acrobat Pro, follow the steps below to flatten your PDF (related article can be found here https://www.adobe.com/acrobat/hub/how-to-flatten-a-pdf.html

 

  1. Make a copy of your PDF.
  2. Choose Advanced > Print Production > Flattener Preview.
  3. Adjust the Raster/Vector balance.
  4.  Go to the “Discard Objects” tab and activate the option “Flatten Form Fields”
  5. Select Convert All Text To Outlines. (optional)
  6. Deselect Clip Complex Regions.
  7. Click Apply to flatten the PDF.
  8. Close the Flattener Preview dialog box.
  9. Print document.

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Community Expert ,
Jan 27, 2025 Jan 27, 2025

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Thank you Rene Andritsch but the process you're describing won't flatten form fields, it's the one used to flatten transparencies.


Acrobat Pro has three flattening methods:
- flattening transparencies (which you describe),
- layer flattening,
- flattening of form fields and comments (the one we're interested in).

 

To flatten form fields, use either :
- JavaScript directly in the JS Console:

 

this.flattenPages();

 


- a dedicated utility such as the “Flatten” plugin which is part of my (free) abracadabraTools.

 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 27, 2025 Jan 27, 2025

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@JR Boulay in point 4 of my list I was referring to the option in the screenshot in the optimization process additionally to flattening transparencies – which in @CE707070’s case can probably be omitted. I tried it myself and it worked. Please correct me if I’m wrong. Thanks.

Bildschirmfoto 2025-01-27 um 12.22.24.png

 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 27, 2025 Jan 27, 2025

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Sorry, I mess this point.

This can done by using the PDF Optimizer too.

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New Here ,
Jan 27, 2025 Jan 27, 2025

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Attention: JR Boulay & Rene Andritsch

Thank for your responses. I don't think that the system will allow me to designate both of you with having given the "Answer". As such I will give it to JR because the solution proposed in his initial response was more practical to me than the other.

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