How to stop Acrobat from breaking up text into two or more bounding boxes?

[srf72]

When I create text of two to three lines in Adobe Pro DC, Adobe breaks it up into two bounding boxes making it difficult to copy and paste as needed. How do I stop this from happening?

[ls_rbls]

Hi,

Are you referring when you  add text to a document using "Edit Text & Images"?

The PDF seems to break Text boxes into separate text layers when you add other objects to the form using the Prepare Form" tool correct?

This seems to happen when you 've used a form that was created with other software. I was able to recreate the issue in my Acrobat by creating a new blank PDF. Then added text by copying and pasting from a Word document. Added objects , dropdown menus check boxes and fillable text field objects.

And for the text that I copied into this form I open Edit Text & Images, right-clicked on the bounding box, and from the context menu selected "Send backward" , just in case this had anything to do if when you add  text  and images to the page they overlap as layers. 

Then I opened Prepare form tool and continue to add more objects. Selected Edit Text & Images again and it remained unbroken. So, I thibnk this is directly related to what the document was created with (but don't fully quote me on this  I may be wrong).

[James5C5F]

Same thing happens in acrobat.  I create a text box with 4-5 lines of text and after I save it, it breakes the text up into several boxes, usually in broken sentences, forcing me to go in and re-type everything.  VERY frustrating.

[luis36272959vegi]

For what I see here, It seems that Acrobat´s PDF file format just can´t handle text as for writing. So ironical that the file format most texts and books come in, can´t handle text. I was trying to make corrections to my own novel, after my editor sent me the proof for publishing and guess what! It was a PDF file. I tried to work the text in there, but after struggling for weeks and ending up in a messy tangle of broken up lines and bounding boxes, I just copied all into Microsoft Word and practically started over. So frustrating and to come here to find out that´s simply not possible?

[Amal.]

Hi there

Hope you're doing well, and thanks for reaching out.

Is this issue happening with one specific PDF or with all PDFs? Please try opening a different PDF to check. Also, if possible, sharing a short video of the steps you're taking and the issue itself would help us understand the problem better.

PDFs are mainly designed to keep document formatting consistent across different devices rather than for heavy text editing. While Acrobat allows some text editing, it can be tricky—especially with complex layouts, multiple fonts, or PDFs that weren’t originally meant to be edited.

Since you're making extensive changes (like editing a novel), converting the PDF to Word (as you did) is usually the best option. Acrobat’s Export PDF feature helps retain formatting better than copy-pasting.

If you often need to edit PDFs, it might be helpful to ask for the original source file (Word, InDesign, etc.) before it's converted to PDF. That way, you can make changes more easily before finalizing it.

Hope this information will help.

[LazerBoi]

This is pretty much a worthless comment.  I get PDFs from a variety of sources, e.g. parts vendors, drawings done in Solidworks, documents from Word saved as PDFs, etc., and I edit them to include pertinent information for me to reference later.  A vendor would simply laugh at me for making such a request, and the text put in drawings has already been formatted a very specific way.  Having Adobe come in and stupidly ruin all that is just idiotic.  I have entered a block of text, formatted a specific way.  How difficult is it to NOT COMPLICATE things and leave the block of text as a SINGLE BLOCK OF TEXT?  I'm sorry, I really get fed up with software companies thinking they know more about how users do their jobs.

[ttted43trf]

I'm having the same problem. Super simple. I made a text object. Typed in some text. Made a few of them on the page. Clicked on some other stuff in the doc in edit mode. Went to edit the format of a text object...the text was now broken up into multiple objects, each containing 1 to 3 letters of the original text object. Now I can't click on the original one object to edit the font, size, etc. and makes selecting the text to move it nearly impossible. If I "undo" far enough sometimes the text goes back to being one object, sometimes not. I think the developers thought this would be a "feature" or are using it for some kind of workaround, but it is a FATAL FLAW for us end users. FAIL. That is why the help responders here can't address the issue. It is a BUG.

[luis36272959vegi]

Actually, I subscribed to the new feature, ACROBAT AI HELPER, looking forward to be able to proofread and make pertinent changes o my text and oh surprise!.. It´s all a mess.

[AnandSri]

Hello @luis36272959vegi!

I hope you are doing well, and thanks for reaching out. We are sorry for the trouble you had while using the Acrobat AI assistant feature. Could you please share more details about the issue? Do you get any error messages when proofreading the PDF? Is it specific to one PDF, or with all sets of PDFs? 

Are you on a Mac or Windows machine, and what is the version?

1. What kind of document were you trying to proofread (e.g., report, contract, academic paper)?
2. Was the issue with grammar, structure, or something else?
3. Are you using Acrobat on desktop or the web version to proofread the document?
4. What language is your document written in?

Please ensure you have the latest version of Acrobat installed on the machine: 25.001.20521 Planned update, Jun 02, 2025. Check for any pending updates from the Menu > help > check for updates, install the updates, restart the app and the machine, and try again.

We're here to help, just need more info. To learn more about the Acrobat AI assistant service, please see this article: https://adobe.ly/3ZZ7eJj

Thanks,

Anand Sri.