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Question

Copy form field from one pdf to another

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
November 28, 2017
3 replies
9360 views

At the school I work at we have forms that need to be checked off as the outcome has been achieved by the student. The boss wanted them online and each checkbox made into a form field so she can see where each year is up to without looking at a paper copy. It's taken me months to make every little square on 60 odd pages for each subject. I've now been told there are updated outcomes and I have to redo it. Is there a way to copy the form fields to the new pdf? I really don't want to sit for months putting little boxes into 100's of pages again.

I've linked the pdfs here in my google drive. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DZHsDmpFZgv2P7DajJF1PVc92_XxQeAR/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-KZPBiQj1MdCCXFrL9XVV_ItxR2U7AO7/view?usp=sharing

This topic has been closed for replies.

A

aguidamonster

New Participant

I had this very same issue recently - it's 2024 so maybe this is different in the current Adobe iteration. I was able to copy the fields in one PDF by selecting the "list" of fields under the Page# rather than trying to select them visually on the page itself. (1) Prepare the form (2) a list of fields you have already set up for each page should be listed in order in the right hand column. (3) Select the fields from this list and copy (4) Go to your second open PDF document and paste under the list of pages you see. You'll need to make sure to "prepare the form" first on your second open document. I'm not sure if this will help.

try67

Community Expert

Go back to Excel and add squares using the Wingdings font to all the cells (it should be very easy to copy & paste them there). Then convert the Excel file to a PDF and you will be able to automatically create check-box fields over those characters, using this tool I've developed: Custom-made Adobe Scripts: Acrobat/Reader -- Convert Wingdings To Fields

What took you months before will now take seconds.

sandram2287Author

Participating Frequently

I can convert to wingdings in excel but I don't know whether I have the skills to use a script. Thank you, it sounds so tempting but $40US is out of my reach at this time of year.

try67

Community Expert

Installing and using the script is quite easy, and it comes with detailed

instructions.

As for the price, you need to consider how much your time is worth. If each

time the document is edited you need to re-do everything I think the price

of the script is negligible compared to the amount of time you'll waste on

it. But it's your decision, of course...

On Wed, Nov 29, 2017 at 2:23 AM, sandram2287 <forums_noreply@adobe.com>

G

George_Johnson

Inspiring

You can select and copy all of the fields on a page and paste them to a page in a different PDF.

You can also open your form and replace the old pages with the new ones and all of the fields will be retained. This would only make sense to do if the new PDF had a similar layout.

sandram2287Author

Participating Frequently

I can copy but there's no option to paste in the different pdf. Control C and V doesn't work either. I tried replacing the pages but the form fields were out of alignment and I could work out how to move them.

G

George_Johnson

Inspiring

Make sure you're in form editing mode when you attempt to paste the fields into the other PDF.

When one or more fields are selected, you can click on one and drag them to a new position with the mouse, or use the arrow keys to more them.

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