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T99H
New Participant
August 8, 2013
Answered

How to Align Text Top Left in a Field?

  • August 8, 2013
  • 8 replies
  • 99338 views

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.

    Correct answer try67

    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.

    8 replies

    K
    kasyk3073858
    New Participant
    May 31, 2024

    I have been using Adobe for a long time and with the new changes I am so lost! This took forever to figure out! Thank you for your time in posting! You saved me!

     

    F
    FuriousDuckling420
    New Participant
    July 15, 2022

    There are some other strange things going on. Certain fonts seem to cause the text to start near the middle of the field.

    To reproduce the issue:

    • Create a text field
    • In Text Field Properties / Options remove selected options and select multi-line and Allow Rich Text Formatting
    • Enter Preview and enter some text in the top left of your text field
    • Go back to edit and then back into In Text Field Properties / Options
    • Change the Font to Cambria

    The text entered in preview then moves from the top of the text field to nearer the middle.

    This has been infuriating me this afternoon.

      J
      Josh_Akins
      New Participant
      October 3, 2022

      You are absolutely correct. Stay away from fonts like Cambria, it will cause the text to begin at the middle and space out the characters too much.

        debbiea3671436
        debbiea3671436
        New Participant
        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. 

        T
        twilly910
        Known Participant
        January 10, 2022

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

         

        Dave Creamer of IDEAS
        Dave Creamer of IDEAS
        Community Expert
        January 10, 2022

        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.

         

        David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)
        Tech_Guy
        Tech_Guy
        Participating Frequently
        December 8, 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.

        M
        mdillow
        New Participant
        January 3, 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.

        A
        asiramv
        Inspiring
        April 4, 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 

        A
        annabnan
        New Participant
        September 23, 2020

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

        J
        JBallou
        New Participant
        June 2, 2020

        This does not apply to Acrobat DC.

          try67
          try67
          Community Expert
          June 2, 2020

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

          Tech_Guy
          Tech_Guy
          Participating Frequently
          August 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.

            peterb85545574
            peterb85545574
            New Participant
            January 26, 2018

            Great solution. Thanks

            try67
            try67Correct answer
            Community Expert
            August 8, 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.

              T
              T99HAuthor
              New Participant
              August 8, 2013

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

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