Editing cell or field background color

[iamjan]

Hi guys,

I created a PDF from an Excel sheet. Some of the cells have a background color. I added a ton of functions with the "prepare forms" function in Acrobat Pro DC. Now I want to change one of the cells background color from green to white. What's the easiest way to do that? I tried to edit the background color of an overlaying text field but it only applies to the text field when the cursor is in it. Is there a way to actually edit the background color directly or insert a rectangle shape with color?

Thanks in advance, you guys are life savers!

Best wishes,

Jan

PS.: I am also trying to insert a function which requires someone to fill out all cells marked as "required" before signing the document. However, there are 3 different people who need to sign, with each of them having different cells assigned to their signature field. Is this possible? Or is it possible to create a "lite version", where the last person to sign off (signature 3) can only sign off if ALL cells marked as required are filled out?

[gkaiseril]

To change the color of a specific field one would use the "Prepare Form" tool and then select the field to modify and use the right mouse click to bring up the "Properties" window for that specific field.

[iamjan]

This does not work. It changes the background color of the field when a user clicks on it and the cursor is in the field but not permanently.

[try67]

Make sure to disable the Fields Highlighting option.

[iamjan]

My problem is, that the cell I am trying to add a text field to has a background color I generated in excel. Now I want to change this background color without having to go back into excel, change the color of the cell and then create a  whole new form.

If I disable the fields highlighting option the field appears in the color behind it, which I created in excel. I hope that makes sense.

Also, this form is not just for me. And if a user has the fields highlighting option enabled in his Reader he will get the overlay.

[try67 · Accepted solution]

If the background color comes from Excel then you need to go back to Excel and change it there, and then create a new PDF file.

However, that doesn't mean you'll need to create the form from scratch. After you have the new PDF (without the fields, but with the correct design), open the old PDF and use the Replace Pages command. Select the new file and it will insert the pages from it instead of the current ones, keeping in tact all the fields you already added.

[iamjan]

Thank you, that helped a lot!

And I will just change the colors significantly for all fields, so when a user has the fields highlight option enabled there's still a difference. Or is it possible to disable the fields highlighting option for all users using this specific form?

[try67]

It is, but it's not recommended because it applies not only to your file but to all other files they open on their computer, as it's an app-setting, not a doc-setting...

[iamjan]

Thank you! You were really helpful and saved my day!

Any chance you know something on this: I am also trying to insert a function which requires someone to fill out all cells marked as "required" before signing the document. However, there are 3 different people who need to sign, with each of them having different cells assigned to their signature field. Is this possible? Or is it possible to create a "lite version", where the last person to sign off (signature 3) can only sign off if ALL cells marked as required are filled out?

Would be a nice feature.

[try67]

It's possible, but not simple. The way to do it is to hide the signature fields and use a script to validate the required fields before displaying them.