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New Participant
July 15, 2024
Question

Cannot add text anymore

  • July 15, 2024
  • 12 replies
  • 13106 views

When I select "Edit PDF" and then select "Add Text" and then try to click in a blank space on the page, the entire page or an editable section is selected instead.  It's like the "Edit" is turned on instead of the "Add Text" button.  I used to be able to click anywhere on the page and add my text.  I make notes on all my PDF files that I save (like date and phone call made, date and email text, if a medical claim, how much I paid along with date and how I paid the bill).

I've found the only way to add new text is to try to find a blank area, type new next and then drag and drop that text box to the location I want it.  Or if I had previously added text, I can copy and past that text box and move it to where I need a new text box and overwrite the text.

Why is the sytem thinking I still want to Edit and not just add new text?

I added a screenshot where you can see that "Add Text is highlighted.  I wanted to add a new text below my note of how I paid on 10.17.23, but when I went to click the blank section of the page, Adobe thinks I'm in Edit mode and selected that whole box instead. In the past, when I clicked Add Text and clicked anywhere on the page, a cursor would appear and I could start typing.  I can't do that any longer.

12 replies

Community Manager
August 13, 2024

Hi @Robyn38617072apnk @dweisen 

This issue usually appears if the files have scanned documents or an image. Can you share a file so I can take a look and share my findings? Alternatively, you can try running OCR on the file, choose "Save As" to save the copy of the original document, and try adding text again. 


~Tariq

New Participant
July 27, 2024

I'm having the exact same issue.  I edit pdf forms all day long.  Before I could select "edit pdf" then "add text" and I could drop text anywhere on the document like an overlay.  Then, like you said, I have to find a blank space and put the text and then drag and drop it into the place I wanted it.  Now, that doesn't work because when I select add text Acrobat selects the whole document.  

I called into tech support and they helped me fix it by going back to the old version.  Now I guess they downloaded an update and now even the old version is not working as it did in the past.  Adobe needs to fix this or I need to find a new pdf editing tool.  More over Adobe should have seen this issue coming. 

New Participant
January 13, 2025

I'm having the exact same issue. It's maddening and so time consuming to add text to a random location on the document away from all text and then drag every single line. ugh.