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2

How to Align Text Top Left in a Field?

Community Beginner ,
Aug 08, 2013 Aug 08, 2013

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.

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PDF forms
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1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION
Community Expert ,
Aug 08, 2013 Aug 08, 2013

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.

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Community Expert ,
Aug 08, 2013 Aug 08, 2013

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.

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Community Beginner ,
Aug 08, 2013 Aug 08, 2013

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

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Community Beginner ,
Sep 30, 2023 Sep 30, 2023

Thank you so much  - I searched videos for about 40 minutes before finding your simple answer! much appreciated!

 

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New Here ,
Nov 09, 2023 Nov 09, 2023

Thank you!

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New Here ,
Jan 26, 2018 Jan 26, 2018

Great solution. Thanks

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Community Beginner ,
Jun 02, 2020 Jun 02, 2020

This does not apply to Acrobat DC.

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Community Expert ,
Jun 02, 2020 Jun 02, 2020

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

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Explorer ,
Aug 25, 2020 Aug 25, 2020

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.

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New Here ,
Sep 05, 2020 Sep 05, 2020

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).

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New Here ,
Sep 24, 2020 Sep 24, 2020

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

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Community Expert ,
Sep 24, 2020 Sep 24, 2020

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

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New Here ,
Dec 08, 2020 Dec 08, 2020

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

Adobe example.jpg

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Community Expert ,
Dec 08, 2020 Dec 08, 2020

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

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Community Expert ,
Oct 01, 2023 Oct 01, 2023

This menu is not about text alignment within the field, but about aligning two (or more) fields with each other in a straight line.

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New Here ,
Apr 01, 2021 Apr 01, 2021

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!

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New Here ,
Sep 10, 2023 Sep 10, 2023

I did just that and it still does not go up to the top. It goes left but not to the top. Any other ideas? 

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New Here ,
Sep 23, 2020 Sep 23, 2020

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

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Explorer ,
Dec 08, 2020 Dec 08, 2020

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.

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New Here ,
Jan 03, 2021 Jan 03, 2021

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.

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Explorer ,
Apr 04, 2021 Apr 04, 2021

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 

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New Here ,
Feb 05, 2025 Feb 05, 2025
LATEST

Cofirming this worked for me, only once I ticked all the suggested boxes in the options tab, and it didn't appear to work until I saved and tested teh editable PDF.

 

To summarise from 2 posts here:

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!

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

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New Here ,
May 13, 2021 May 13, 2021

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. 

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Explorer ,
Jan 10, 2022 Jan 10, 2022

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

 

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Community Expert ,
Jan 10, 2022 Jan 10, 2022

Did you look at the correct answer for this thread?

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