How to make an expanding text field in Acrobat Pro?

[jeffw37833998]

I am trying to create a PDF form with text fields that expand as information is input.  I know this can be done in Adobe Livecycle Designer but I need to be able to do it in Acrobat Pro.  I need to be able to save the form after it is filled in and potentially make changes or add additional information later.  This is where I run into a problem with Livecycle as I do not have the Livecycle Reader Extension nor do I have a server to install the Livecycle Reader Extension on.  Please HELP!!!

[murrjames]

You can not make expandable fields in Acrobat. Only LCD.

[gkaiseril]

If one made the form with all form fields it might be possible but you will have a significant amount of JavaScript coding to do to rearrange the form fields. Not a biginners project.

[George_Johnson · Accepted solution]

You may not need LiveCycle Reader Extensions for what you want to do. Acrobat is able to Reader-enable a form that you create with LiveCycle Designer so that it can be saved with Reader. It doesn't add all of the usage rights that Reader Extensions can, but from what you've said you probably don't need them.

[jeffw37833998]

How to I use Acrobat to Reader-enable a form created in LiveCycle Designer?

[George_Johnson]

That depends on what version of Acrobat you're using:

A8: Advanced > Enable Usage Rights in Adobe Reader

A9: Advanced > Extend Features in Adobe Reader

A10: File > Save As > Reader Extended PDF > Enable Additional Features

A11/DC: File > Save as Other > Reader Extended PDF > Enable More Tools (includes form fill-in & save)...

Acrobat DC is different in that there are no licensing restrictions for Reader-enabled forms that limit how you can use filled-in forms that are returned to you, like there are for Acrobat 8-11.

[russelll46880207]

Can anyone help me too...?

I've just been on the phone to Adobe about 7 times and spent hours on the internet trying to get to anyone that knows about LiveCycle, its seems Adobe don't market it or want to help..

I understand that if i want expanding text fields in an editable pdf, I need to create the pdf in LiveCycle Designer ES4. I am trying to find out if that's it or do i need to buy Acrobat DC too and then save the file as a Reader  Extended PDF.

Simple really but i cant believe that Adobe are so bad at customer support, every avenue leads you down another route that is a dead end!!!!

Come on Adobe get your act together.

[murrjames]

Sub forms. Adobe is a horrible company, not customer friendly at all. Look on youtube for Sub forms in live cycle

[murrjames]

Sub forms are what expand or allow the user to add rows to a table.

[try67]

I would avoid creating an LCD form. It's a dying technology, not worth the time and money it requires to use, and on top of that it won't work almost anywhere, except for in Adobe Acrobat or Reader.

[wissamhba]

I am having the same issue here. I am trying to create a complex form which contains many tables and some of them require those tables to be expandable. I have done immense research on this matter and I found a lot of the tools out there do not offer this option. Adobe DC Pro does not offer it as well. LCD does offer it, however as explained in earlier thread, it is almost impossible to get hold of anyone about it. They do not answer emails, contact forms or phones.

As an other alternative to LCD, what would you recommend?

I am exploring using Visual Studio Community to create ASP form, it is an old technology as well.

Thanks.

[murrjames]

Exactly, people will not answer to LCD questions, first because it is not able to make a form Accessible, it is now going away and will be morphing into AEM Forms manager.

They keep changing things to make more money, rather than a better tool.

There is an LCD forum, but even there they do not answer.

Your best bet is to search for other PDF programs, there are lots other than adobe, you just have to find the one best for you.

I almost have my boss ready to dump adobe, specially after using Acrobat 2017 (DC), what a dog that is.....

Good luck.

[wissamhba]

I am trying to steer away from Adobe as well because the way they run their business and because once we are into it we will be stuck forever. So far I have tried 4 other applications to no avail. I will keep looking. Thanks for your help.

[renanmac]

I am not sure if this can help you, I had difficulties to input a name into a field that didn't fit. If you go to the properties of the field (Prepare Form module) you can switch the font size to Auto, then once you're writting the letter will follow-up the field's size.

[rbreeden@hanys.org]

Currently this is a feature being considered by Adobe... but we need to upvote it in order for Adobe Softwear engeneers to understand how BASIC and important it is for Form users to have expaning fields! 

https://acrobat.uservoice.com/forums/590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac/suggestions/18999883-create-...

[CHRISTY26002009ak7i]

Yes - we absolutely need the same suite of features that Live Cycle offers because I just found that the new Microsoft 365 environment will not open any .pdf's with XFA formats (created by Live Cycle) and the Adobe Acrobat Pro doesn't even have half the features I'd need to rebuild the form. So I can't create a dynamic form with expanding fields, hiding sections unless needed, etc. in Adobe Pro. This is SOOOOOOOO frustrating. Additionally, Microsoft was stating in another forum that they were looking at testing adding features to allow for other .pdf formats in different web browsers but that this may be a long time coming (if at all) to get Live Cycle forms to work within web browsers again. I can't even believe we're in such a regressive state with Adobe and/or Microsoft. This is globally impactful. This is not an isolated incident and the more people move to different software platforms, the more frustrating this is going to be when they find out how limited they're going to be using Adobe. 

Adobe PLEASE figure this out!!! This is creating work stoppages, causing manual efforts and the potential of having to rebuild a lot of agency forms. 

[cocob73320090]

Adobe, will you be adding the exapandable field functionality in Acrobat sometime soon? This is a very much required feature that has been requested many times from the community.

[try67]

Unlikely. The PDF format does not allow for the dynamic reflowing of document contents as would be required by this feature, and changing it is out of Adobe's hands now.

[radzmar]

There a projects around to develop new kinds of interactive PDF forms.

https://github.com/pdf-association/

[Test Screen Name]

But that's missing the whole point.

1. Adobe created dynamic forms (XFA)

2. Adobe made Acrobat/Reader to show them.

3. Adobe put enough public info for all the other people (browser makers, email etc.) to show XFA forms, but they didn't bother.

So... what would happen if Adobe did actually create a whole lot of new, exciting, form features? Yes, the other guys would completely ignore it, so you just have yet another new type of form that works only in Acrobat/Reader. Which advances nobody at all, because we already have dynamic forms in Reader.

[radzmar]

Browsers like Firefox or Chrome have XFA support, so you can use those forms with them too. Its function is not comparable to Acrobat/Reader but a typical dynamic form with a few fields will do fine already, so you can't say it has been ignored.