Possible to Draw Lines or Boxes on PDF Forms?

[kmc27]

In some of my forms, a line or box would help guide the user to the fields they need to address, or away from those they can ignore. Is there a way to add rules to a form other than using the Commenting Tool?

[George_Johnson]

Do you need something that you can dynamically show/hide while the form is being used, or do you just want to add something to the underlying PDF? For the latter, you'd normally add the lines/boxes to the source document in InDesign, Word, or whatever you use to do the design/layout of the form.

[kmc27]

In a several of the forms I have created, there is no underlying Word or InDesign document. I created a blank legal sized PDF document, and used the blank PDF to create the form entirely in Acrobat. I did that because it gave me flexibility to move elements on the forms to new positions, and also more easily fit content as the forms were being developed. For labels of the fields or sections of the form, I used text fields, set a default value in field Properties > Options for the label's text, and set the field to read only. I have created "lines" by creating a read only text field, giving it a fill color of black, and making it very small in width. This is a workaround. I'd  prefer to be able to draw a simple line. I don't necessarily need the lines to be dynamic, although I think that i probably could accomplish by hiding the read only text fields and scripting them to make them visible.

[George_Johnson]

In case you weren't aware, it's possible to create read-only lines and rectangles. So if the reason you don't want to use them is because they normally interfere with the use of the form, setting them to read-only might help. You have to do this with a script though, and would need to set them back to normal to make changes. One problem is Acrobat/Reader 11 is the first version to properly respect the read-only flag and not allow the user to select/alter/tab to such annotations. You can also flatten them to convert them to regular page contents when you're done with the design, using a tool like the following free one: UVSAR : Selective Flattener tool for Adobe Acrobat 8, 9 and X

[kmc27]

Do you mean use the Comment Tool to create the lines or boxes, then flatten them?

[George_Johnson · Accepted solution]

Yes. You have much more control than using form fields. For lines, you can hold down the Shift key to constrain to horizontal/vertical/45 degrees when dragging them out.

[kmc27]

Got it - the Commenting Tool created lines are much cleaner than the ones I was simulating via a text field, and it will de-clutter the list of fields, too, And thanks for the heads up about the selective flattening tool. I will give that a try.

[jenniferm71110490]

This tool appears to only sort of work as of Sept. 9, 2022.

[jenniferm71110490]

The UVSAR Tool appears to have some issues, and only kinda work. The Selective flatening part doesn't appear to work on Acrobat CC Version 2022.002.20191 for Mac.

[Tanya32803897q3c4]

Hi George. 

I added lines and have them set up for my Adobe Form but when I got to 'print to PDF' to see what it would look like printed, the lines are not in the document yet they are there in preview. Do I need to actual print the document to see the lines or am I doing something wrong?