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Cyb Electric Accounting
New Participant
January 17, 2025
Question

Adobe Acrobat - When Selecting Multiple Text Boxes and Moving Them Text Disappears

  • January 17, 2025
  • 1 reply
  • 1145 views

This issue suddenly started happening for me a few months ago. In the Edit PDF section, I used to be able to select a grouping of text boxes* and slightly shift or move them on the page no problem. Now when I do that some or all of the the text dissapears. The bounding boxes are still there, but appear to be empty. The only way to keep the text in the boxes while moving them (or to recover the mising text) is to move them one by one. 

 

I am using the old version of Adobe (preference). This problem persists in the Modern Acrobat as well. Again, this was never a problem for me until recently and it is massively increasing how long it takes to edit these documents. 

 

*I am editing invoices that are originally downloaded as a Word document. They are edited as needed in Word and then saved as a PDF for further editing in Adobe. The way Adobe formats the files results in each line on the invoice, and each column within those lines, ibeingwithin itheir own text box/bounding box. 

1 reply

AnandSri
Community Manager
AnandSriCommunity Manager
Community Manager
January 30, 2025

Hello,

 

I hope you're doing well, and we apologize for the delayed response and the trouble.

Please ensure you have the latest version of Acrobat installed on the machine: 24.005.2039x Planned update, Jan 23, 2025. Check for any pending updates from the Menu > help > check for updates, install the updates, restart the app and the machine, and check.
For more information, see this: https://adobe.ly/3CkcXB7.

 

Make sure the text boxes are properly formatted. Sometimes, text can disappear if the properties are not set correctly. As a temporary workaround, try moving the text boxes one by one instead of selecting multiple boxes at once. Also, Ensure that all fonts are embedded in your PDF documents. Embedding prevents font substitution when readers view or print the file. See this article for more information: https://adobe.ly/4gigOMP

 

You can also try the suggestions from the following article: https://adobe.ly/3ErcFJ6

 

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Anand Sri.

C
Cyb Electric AccountingAuthor
New Participant
February 21, 2025

Hell AnandSri,

 

Thank you for your reply. I can confirm that I have the most recent version of Adobe installed, so that's not the issue. 

 

As for the "text boxes being properly formatted', how do I go about checking that? When I move them one by one, this works, but the issue is that having to move them one by one, as opposed to moving a large selection of them, adds a TON of work because I'm trying to move detailed tables of information that sometimes contain hundreds of individual text boxes. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to follow the steps in the article you provided about embedded fonts because  Step 2 is says  to "Choose Advanced > Print Production > Acrobat Distiller" but I don't have an "Advanced" on the Home tab or in any of my menus to navigate to (except "Advanced Search") - perhaps that's because I'm running a different verison than what the article is referring to? I'm running Acrobat Pro 24.005.20399. From the right hand Tools ribbon there is a "Print Production" under the "Protect & Standardize" tools, but there's nothing in there about Acrobat Distiller...

 

I also followed that other article but it only talks about Segoe fonts and those are all installed. 

 

All that said, my workaround has been to select the group of text boxes as usual and then cut & paste them back into the document. Once I do that, I am able to move them around freely without the text dissapearing. Not a solution, but a better workaround than moving the text boxes one by one. 

AnandSri
Community Manager
AnandSriCommunity Manager
Community Manager
August 26, 2025

Hello @Cyb Electric Accounting 

 

I hope you are doing well, and I am sorry for the delayed response and the trouble.

 

I am following up to check if you are still experiencing the issue. Please ensure you have the latest version of Acrobat installed on the machine: 25.001.20630, Planned update, Aug 18, 2025. Check for any pending updates from the Menu > help > check for updates, install the updates, restart the app and the machine. Let us know if you face any issues with the latest build.

 

Thanks,
Anand Sri | Acrobat Community Team
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