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rosiecycfin
Participant
January 10, 2017
Question

Adding a fillable stamp to PDF documents

  • January 10, 2017
  • 1 reply
  • 60346 views

I am wanting to add a stamp to documents that can then be typed into to include date, amount etc.

At present we print off documents, stamp them manually, fill in the details, scan the document back into our PC and then email it to the managers. I am curious to see whether a stamp can be set up that can be typed into to save a few of these steps.

We use Adobe Acrobat Pro.

Thanks in advance for any help people can offer me .

Rosie

    1 reply

    G
    George_Johnson
    Inspiring
    January 10, 2017

    That's not possible, but it is possible to prompt the user for information when the stamp is placed that then gets placed in form fields on the stamp. This is a type of dynamic stamp and you can learn more about them here: https://acrobatusers.com/tutorials/dynamic_stamp_secrets

    This has also been discussed here many times, so you should be able to find more information with a search, but post again if you get stuck.

    Here's another good source of information:

    Modify Dynamic PDF Stamps in Acrobat - KHKonsulting LLC

    Creating a PDF Stamp File from Scratch - KHKonsulting LLC

    S
    Su-Elliott
    Known Participant
    December 29, 2017

    Has anyone tried this in Acrobat Pro DC?  I had the process down pat in Acrobat 9 using the methods in the first link you posted, but now that I've updated to DC I can't get it to work. I am able to get as far as getting the AP code to identify my custom field, but I'm stuck on the step where you updating the script to incorporate it. You're supposed to open the custom stamp file in your user library (I'm on a Mac), and then edit the field script to incorporate the custom field name. But when I open the custom stamp file (I can see my stamp I made there on the second page) and choose "Prepare Form" to get at the field, I get a message "No new form field annotations were detected". I am unable to select the field because it is apparently no longer a field.

    I ams tuck. Makes me wish I hadn't updated to DC.

    Thom Parker
    Community Expert
    Thom ParkerCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 30, 2017

    Yes, I do this all the time in Acrobat DC.  The Acrobat UI has changed quite a bit since 9, but the methodology for creating a dynamic stamp is the same.

    It sounds like you are creating a stamp from an existing PDF that contains form fields. Is this correct?  Acrobat removes any existing form fields when it creates the stamp file. Very frustrating. You have to put the fields onto the stamp after the stamp is created, not before.

    You're not the only one with DC woes. It easier now to use the tool search than to try and find on the Tools panel. They've also removed a few features that were in previous version. Fortunately I have a plug-in that exposes all the old menus, so you can use it like you used to

    Here's a some more info on stamps:

    PDF Stamp Annotations

    Thom Parker - Software Developer at PDFScriptingUse the Acrobat JavaScript Reference early and often
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