Moving text entered into a PDF without moving other objects

[jmt111]

Sometimes, I add text to a pdf through the following:

-         Click Tools to the top right of Acrobat, beneath the X.

-         Under Content | Edit Text & Objects, select Edit Document Text.

-         Hold down ctrl before you place the cursor on the pdf.

Often, the text is not placed in the correct spot. To move it, I go to Tools | Content | Edit Object and then select the text and move it. However, this often causes other text in the document to shift along with the text that I entered. It seems somehow the text I entered gets linked to other text and I can either move all or none of it. How can I get only the text that I just entered to shift without getting other text to shift with it?

[Bill12]

You can only move the text as an individual box. All of the text in the box will move. You can select the Edit Text & Images and then move the cursor to the border of the desired block. The block border should have a cross arrow over it and at that point just push the left button and move the box. If you want to move just some text, you will have to cut it and then move the cursor to the desired location and paste. If you want it where no text exists, then select the Add Text and hold down the ctrl key as you place the new text box. Then just paste into this new box.

[jmt111]

What does “You can only move the text as an individual box” mean? If I add one line of text and then want to move only that one line without impacting the other text that I added to other parts of the document, how would I do it?

[Bill12]

You would have to select that line, delete it, and create a new text box to enter the text into (hold down the control key as you try to place the box). While that box is still selected, you can move it around. Generally, the editing functions you are trying to do can fail terribly. Acrobat is not really an editing environment and the tools are not easy to use even for minor editing. A lot is based on the structure of the PDF and how things are grouped (objects). You can move an object, but not parts of it. You should really use the original document to edit the information and then create a new PDF.

At times you can start trying to edit text in a PDF and all the information gets scrambled. So such edits are not very friendly to do.

[jmt111]

When I try to select the line and delete it, all of the other text linked to it as "object" shifts downward about one inch, and some of it shifts rightward about one inch.

Unfortunately, it looks like if you try to add text to a PDF using Tools | Content | Edit Document Text, it cannot later be changed unless you delete all of the text that was added and start again.

I do not have access to the original document. I only have access to the PDF, and the sender expects me to send back the PDF filled out.

[Test Screen Name]

There are no text boxes in the  PDF text you are editing. There seem to be but it's an illusion. Rather, each time you go to edit text, Acrobat analyses the page to find groupings of text and puts them all together.

If you want to fill out a PDF, consider either using the forms tools or text comments, rather than adding text that will get jumbled with the form and is not really practical.

Did you ask the sender what they expected you to do? Quite possibly they just expected you to print it out and write on it, rather than jump through hoops.

[Bill12]

When you use the ctrl key to place the text with the text edit tool it creates a new box for that edit. If you leave the box it becomes part of the rest of the text on the page and you can't move it. However, if you select that text box before you finish, it can be moved. I have done this many times. If I wait to select the box, it loses the individual entry box property and you can no longer move it.

This is not a text box in the sense of a form or such, but a text box in which you are typing with the text edit tool.

[jmt111]

Test Screen Name: I think Add or Edit Text Box might be more practical than Edit Document Text if I need to move the text after I add it. With Add or Edit Text Box, moving the text box does not cause other elements to move, which is unlike what happens when I add text via Edit Document Text.

I think the PDF creator needs to allow the option for users to use the Forms Tool. This PDF does not have form fields. As for adding text via Comments, Add stick note creates a conspicuous text box that I want to avoid, as does Insert text under Comment | Annotations.

So Add or Edit Text Box appears to be the best option.

I believe the sender expects me to print this PDF, handwrite my entries and then scan and email it back to him. But I am trying to find ways to save time, paper and ink by adding text without printing this PDF and the many other PDFs that I must routinely fill out.

[Test Screen Name]

It doesn't sound as if, in practice, it is going to save you much time. This is not how people are expected to work with PDFs. You might succeed, but pushing the software to do beyond the design is going to be frustrating at best.

Since you have Acrobat Pro, YOU can use the forms tool to add form fields. Rarely worth doing if the form is only filled once, but you have indicated you may be returning and re-editing.