How to Align Text Top Left in a Field?

[TeachHR]

In Acrobat XI, how do I get text to align top left in a form field?  When I create a new text field, the text centers inside the field.  Thanks for any help.

[try67 · Accepted solution]

Set the multiline option (under Properties - Options tab) to get the text

aligned to the top of the field. Horizontal alignment can be set in the

same location under the Alignment property.

[TeachHR]

Thank you so much! That did it! I appreciate your help!

[peterb85545574]

Great solution. Thanks

[JBallou]

This does not apply to Acrobat DC.

[try67]

It should... What happens when you try to do it there?

[Tech_Guy]

I landed here looking for an answer to this for Acrobat Pro DC. When setting a text field to Multi-line, it aligns bottom and if I deselect Multi-line, the field aligns middle. I can see no way to set it to align top.

[emr94993716]

It is the same for me. There is an option to align text to the vertical axis (left, right, center) but no option to align text in a form field to the horizontal axis (top, middle, bottom).

[CpnWingit]

I'm stuck on this one as well. In Acrobat DC the options for aligning vertically are grayed out.

[try67]

Where did you see such an option? Can you post a screenshot?

[Jayne5F94]

I'm having the same issue in Acrobat DC - would love a solution!

[Bernd Alheit]

The entries are active when you select 2 or more form fields.

[Tricia5E80]

For Adobe Acrobat Pro DC:

Go to Prepare Form > Edit > Right Click on the Text Field > Properties > Choose Option tab > Alignment: Left and add checkmark to "Multi-Line" below. Boom! Took forever to figure it out!

[annabnan]

OMG thank you! This has been beating me for a long time!!

[Tech_Guy]

I just discovered something that solved this for me. I discovered I have a user problem rather than a software problem.

The back story for me is that we use a form to which I was recently asked to add a free-form "notes" field with room for two lines, and I did so. A short time after, the most frequent user of this form asked if I could edit the notes field so that the text aligns top. I was confused as to why it did not, by default, so I tested it. Sure enough, I clicked in the field and the cursor was waiting at the bottom. That was when I double-checked the properties and made my first reply to this thread. After today's replies, I went back in to try the suggestions in those replies. I tested again and the cursor went to the bottom again. While checking options and filling the field to test them, I (seemingly randomly) got the cursor to go to the top line, but after clearing the text and exiting the field and clicking back in, it went to the bottom again. It was during this testing that I realized that the multiline format is not the same as a type-flowed text box and will allow the user to click onto whichever line they please and begin typing...

In the end, then, when I thought the text was not aligning to the top of the field, the problem was actually that the users were clicking into the field and happened to be clicking probably into the middle of the field, which was setting the cursor to the beginning of the second line. Hope this info helps others who are confused by this behavior.

[mdillow]

This was also giving me fits in PRO DC.

In the field properties dialog under the options tab, make sure all three (Multi-line, Scroll Long Text, and Allow Rich Text formatting.

This changes the dialog to allow you to chose left right or center. It appears it always place the cursor top-left. There is oddly no option for aligning the text in a field horizontally.

Hope that helps.

[asiramv]

I have a variation on this issue--such a small thing but it's driving me nuts. I want to have the text in my field start at the top. It wants to start at the middle, which doesn't allow me to align the text that the user types into the labels I'm providing. I've spent a while on this and looked at all the above solutions. When I multiclick the fields and align, they all align to each other. I want the information input to align to top. 

I've tried designing in InDesign as well as Acrobat and it's not happening for me.

Thanks 

[debbiea3671436]

I have tried this numerous times and I cannot get it to align to the top and left.  I have even tried by going into CTRL-E and then clicking on the field I want to do this alignment, Click on More... Under the paragraph tab, I have put the Alignment to Left and Top with everything else at zero and single space. Here too, it aligns in the middle even though this was done too.  

I know I have gotten it to work, but I cannot remember. I thought someone had set to unclick the multi-line, but that never made sense. 

[twilly910]

Having the same issue. Still working on it, it anyone figured it out, please post.

[try67]

Did you look at the correct answer for this thread?

[Creamer Training]

The answer was given in the very first response from 7.5 years ago by none other than @try67 

Without Multi-line, every field thinsk it is a single line regardless of size.

Turn on Multi-line, it aligns to the top; left-to-center-to-right is user choice.

[Tech_Guy]

Thank you to Try67 and Creamer both for repeating what the Adobe Help says abotu how to set the field. However, there is still a problem with multi-line fields in Acrobat that can lead to confusion about ~why~ people are still asking this question.

Yes, you can set up a multi-line field that is aligned top-left with these settings, but as I stated in my last reply, you and your users are still required to click into the filed on the top line when using the multi-line field in order to have your text begin properly top-left aligned.

This is because your top-left aligned multi-line field will for whatever bizarre reasoning allow you to click into the field on ANY of the available, multiple lines and begin typing, leaving blank lines above and leading you to believe the field alignment is not obeying your settings.

[try67]

Any text field in any application acts like that, if you click in a place that already has text in it. This is expected behavior. If I click into a specific point in a text field I expect the cursor to jump to that point, not to the top of the field.

[Tech_Guy]

"if you click in a place that already has text in it."

Yes, I expect that as well as anyone else. The problem here is that an empty multi-line field in Acrobat will allow you to click on any of the available blank lines, rather than confine you to the first.

[Creamer Training]

>>>... you and your users are still required ...

First, your message seems to imply that we are working for Adobe. Just to clarify, we do not work for Adobe; we are simply users who volunteer their time.

>>>... allow you to click into the field on ANY of the available, multiple lines and begin typing, leaving blank lines above and leading you to believe the field alignment is not obeying your settings.

I'm not following. I can click anywhere in a multi-line box and it will start at the top. Is that what you are discussing or am I missing the point?