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Schurgers1982
New Participant
January 21, 2013
Answered

How to turn off Highlight Existing Fields

  • January 21, 2013
  • 7 replies
  • 103007 views

Hi,

I am making a PDF with Radio Buttons, with an image background, and when I display the PDF in Acrobat Pro X it looks fine. I have switched off Highlight Existing Fields in the Form menu. But when I open the document on another computer, large grey boxes are shown around the Radio Buttons. Does Acrobat automatically switch on Highlight Existing Fields?

How can I export the PDF so that on other computers the grey boxes are not shown??

Thanks very much for your help!

Fabian

    Correct answer try67

    This is a setting of the application, not of the document.

    You can switch it off by going to Edit - Prefs. - Forms, and tick off "Show

    border hover color for fields".

    It is also possible to switch this setting off using a script, but I would

    advise against doing that because this would affect not just your file but

    all the files opened on the user's computer. If you want to implement it

    you should at least inform the user of the change and preferably get their

    confirmation to doing so.

    7 replies

    M
    mram51252
    New Participant
    August 17, 2023

    In case this helps anyone, I'm using Adobe Acrobat Pro 2023 and was able to add the "Highlight Existing Fields" button without any scripting or workarounds. 

     

    Right-click on the toolbar above the document, below the document tabs > Customize Quick Tools > in the Prepare Form group select More Form Options > click the + up arrow button to the right to add this button to the toolbar > Save > then in that top toolbar area you will now have a toolbox button with drop down menu that cotains the Hightlight Existing Fields button.

      R
      Renee26453004ul1e
      New Participant
      April 4, 2024

      Remove Red Required Field.   The commenter who provided the script - THANKS!  Not being able to make the RED REQUIRED transparent can make a document look horrible.  Especially when you have a lot of fields.  I attached the visual pathway to turn them off globally.   

      JR Boulay
      JR Boulay
      Adobe Expert
      November 29, 2022

      "I can conclude that the only way we can guarantee the PDF Form will function using any added scripts is to view it in an Adobe PDF Reader like Adobe Acrobat Reader."

      Yes and no.

      JavaScript is supported in some other "real" PDF readers too, like Foxit or PDF Studio.

      Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe
      JR Boulay
      JR Boulay
      Adobe Expert
      February 22, 2021

      A few months ago in a topic of this forum a nice guy named try67 gave me this script to put in a button.

      It allows the user to choose directly by clicking on the button, without having to go to Preferences.

       

      I just added French support to the original script, which can be replaced by any other language.

       

      if (app.language == "FRA") {
      var item1 = "Surbrillance";
      var item2 = "Oui";
      var item3 = "Non";
      }
      else {
      var item1 = "Highlight";
      var item2 = "On";
      var item3 = "Off";
      }
      var aMen = {cName: item1, oSubMenu: [{cName: item2, bMarked: app.runtimeHighlight}, {cName: item3, bMarked: !app.runtimeHighlight}]};
      var cRtn = app.popUpMenuEx(aMen);
      if(cRtn != null) {
      if (cRtn == item2) {app.runtimeHighlight = true;}
      else if (cRtn == item3) {app.runtimeHighlight = false;}
      }

      Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe
        C
        Creative Kath
        New Participant
        November 28, 2022

        Hello again!

        Similar to the person in 2021, I am trying to turn the highlight off in Chrome, Firefox and MS Edge. I have followed the instructions above to add the script in the Document Javascript area and it does not seem to work. What am I doing wrong: I am adding this code exact code: app.runtimeHighlight = false;

        I am a novice at Javascript as I am a designer who is being asked to ensure the look of a fillable PDF form across platforms (Adobe Reader, Chrome, MS Edge & Firefox) - which includes not having the default highlight on. I do not really understand the longer javascript posted above in Feb 2021.

        Any thoughts would be appreciated? 

         

        try67
        try67
        Adobe Expert
        November 28, 2022

        You're not doing anything wrong, but there's no guarantee this script (or any other script, for that matter), will work in any non-Adobe PDF viewer.

        F
        fineline_dan
        New Participant
        September 1, 2017

        does anyone know where I can fins said javascript? ....

        try67
        try67
        Adobe Expert
        September 1, 2017

        Right here:

        app.runtimeHighlight = false;

          F
          fineline_dan
          New Participant
          September 1, 2017

          thanks man! where do I add this? I can't find an add java script for the whole forms jut for the individual boxes..... Do I have to add it to each field?

          MSR1306
          MSR1306
          New Participant
          July 14, 2014

          In the above answer it said as below,

          This is a setting of the application, not of the document.

          You can switch it off by going to Edit - Prefs. - Forms, and tick off "Show

          border hover color for fields".

          I saved a copy of PDF, which is I developed via LC. In that saved copy I did as MENU -- EDIT -- PREFERENCES -- Disabled the chk box. Then, I opened the another form on browser, but, still button is turn ON by default

          Pls. guide me where I have to do this setting, is it when I am developing my_form in LC or opening any PDF on my desktop & do setting on this PDF?

          Pls. let me know where I hv to to do this seetings?

          Thank you

            S
            Schurgers1982Author
            New Participant
            January 21, 2013

            Thanks for your reply!

            try67
            try67Correct answer
            Adobe Expert
            January 21, 2013

            This is a setting of the application, not of the document.

            You can switch it off by going to Edit - Prefs. - Forms, and tick off "Show

            border hover color for fields".

            It is also possible to switch this setting off using a script, but I would

            advise against doing that because this would affect not just your file but

            all the files opened on the user's computer. If you want to implement it

            you should at least inform the user of the change and preferably get their

            confirmation to doing so.

              C
              Chan5C73
              New Participant
              October 27, 2021

              Where is that EDIT button? I'm using PDF Professional.

              try67
              try67
              Adobe Expert
              October 27, 2021

              Adobe doesn't have such a product. Do you mean Adobe Acrobat Pro? If not, post your question in the forum of the company that developed the application you're using.

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