PDF form fields alignment

[vaijayanthy]

How can we align the randomly placed acro form field in the pdf developed using adobe acrobat pro XI? Is there any tool or inbuilt methods that can automatically do this positioning ?

Explanation: Basically, we want to copy and align the pdf acro form fields from old pdf to new pdf. Since the template of both the pdfs are different the acro fields are not aligned properly using acrobat function. We want to align/position the acro form fields to its respective spaces provided in the new pdf.
There are no label/ID to map the fields.

[try67]

So based on what do you want to align them? I don't see how this is going to be possible.

[vaijayanthy]

We are trying to automate this in either of the 2 ways:

1) All our pdfs contain text adjacent/above the acroform fields. Is there any method/ tool which can identify the text and place the fields in the space provided ?

2) I am using adobe acrobat pro XI. If I choose "Forms - >Edit" option in the new pdf, the tool pops up a box with a message "Do you want adobe acrobat to detect acro form fields?". If we choose "yes", it automatically creates few form fields. Is there a way to copy the properties of the form fields from old pdf to the ones created in new pdf?

[try67]

Both of these things are possible, but will require developing a custom-made script and quite a lot of hand-work.
I think that an easier solution would be to paste the existing fields into the new file and then adjust their locations.

[vaijayanthy]

Yes. We currently copy paste each existing fields into the new file and adjusting their position manually. But we need to automate this manual process. is it possible to automate it when the new file template keeps on changing for every release? Each release contains almost 100s of PDF.

[try67]

You need to find a better workflow if your files keep changing. For example, use some kind of special marker to make where each field needs to go. It's better if that marker is textual, so a script can pick it up more easily. Also, if it can contain the field name that would be even better... Then you could copy the fields from the old file and use a script to place them in the correct locations.

If you're interested in hiring someone to develop such a tool for you feel free to contact me privately (try6767 at gmail.com).