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Brandt2012
Participant
September 3, 2012
Question

Set default font type and size in formcreated using Acrobat X Pro

  • September 3, 2012
  • 7 replies
  • 109010 views

I have a word document that I used Acrobat X Pro to create a PDF and then a Form.  The Form has over 200 text fields.  Is there a way to globally set the font type and size to one type, for instance Arial 10 so that when someone opens the Form and fills it in, the global font type and size is preset         

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7 replies

cawelch1
cawelch1
Participant
April 7, 2017

I have found that if you hold Ctrl and click on each individual text field, you can change the font size and type all at the same time from the properties menu.

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Deena Montillo
Participant
August 5, 2015

Using Adobe Acrobat X Pro version 10, select Tools>Content>Select Object.  Right mouse click anywhere within the now highlighted fields, then select Properties>Appearance.  In the Text dialog box, choose desired Font Size, Font and Color (optional), then select Close.  When done setting font preferences, in the Task Pane, select Forms>Edit>Close Form Editing. Begin filling in your form.  Press the Tab key to move through the fields.

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Dorton75
Participant
April 23, 2014

I am running Acrobat Pro 11, so this may not be helpful.  Once I have created a form, I can hold down the left mouse button and select all of the form fields and then right click and change the font and size in properties.  This can be done even if you used a wizard.  However, when using a wizard, I sometimes have to select fields in groups because if the font type varies in the different fields, it will only allow you to change the size. 

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pxyvision
Participant
April 21, 2014

On my first field, I right-clicked on the mouse and selected "select all" then right clicked again and changed the Properties (and changed my font). Lastly, right click and select "Use current properties as new defaults."

    P
    PoeKnows
    Participant
    March 25, 2013

    For Acrobat XI:

    Under Forms; highlight the fillable spaces you'd like to alter; under Tasks select Edit Fields; select Show Field Properties; adjust font size/color/etc.

    That's it!

    O
    oowefawe
    Participant
    January 11, 2013

    This is what I do, and it does not require any script. It is not fully automated, but more so that doing it field by field. I create my form in Form Wizard. Once the fields are automatically created, I use the "Select Object" tool from "Advanced Editing." Then I box around the multiple text fields I want to edit at the same time. Once they are all highlighted (on my mac they turn blue), I right click just one of them (ensuring they all stay blue)... Select properties from the dropdown list, click the "Appearance" tab and change the font size. Voila, all the text fields I highlighted now have the same text size set so that when the user types in the field the font sizes are not all wonky due to the default being "Auto."

    Hope this helps... Plus I hope my search will find this post next time I can't remember how to do it

      O
      onetimemember
      Participant
      February 3, 2013

      oowefawe,

      You're simply Awesome. This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks a billion.

      T
      Test Screen Name
      Legend
      February 3, 2013

      Reading back over the messages: there seems to me no good reason to EVER change Helvetica to Arial. All it does is make the PDF bigger without changing the appearance. Helvetica is a magic "always works" font which looks almost exactly the same as Arial (indeed, often the two are swapped silently).

      G
      George_Johnson
      Inspiring
      September 3, 2012

      If you're using the Form Wizard to create the forms, there is not. If you create fields manually, you can set the default for a particular type of form field by first creating one with the properties you want, right-click, and select "Use Current Properties as New Defaults". You can also use JavaScript to loop through the collection of fields and set any of the properties the same.

      R
      RusticRanger2
      Participating Frequently
      September 9, 2012

      Hi George

      Like many others I read about, changing the font away from Helvetica as the default font for new text fields does not work, as it did in all previous versions when the user right-clicks on a text field and chooses "Use Current Properties as New Defaults". Given the number of forms my teams create, this bug is very serious. As said to me by more than one of the developers, this is doubling the time taken to prepare forms.

      Is there a fix, and has this been raised as a bug? How do we raise it as a bug? Adding in Javascript to change this is not a solution, just a workaround that adds to development time.

        G
        George_Johnson
        Inspiring
        September 9, 2012

        Are you talking about fields that you create manually or field created with the Form Wizard? Exactly what version of Acrobat are you using? What OS?

        In any case, using a script is a quick and easy approach:

        for (var i = 0; i < numFields; i++) {

            var fName = getNthFieldName(i);

            var f = getField(fName);

            if (f.type === "text") {

                f.textFont = font.Times;

                f.textSize = 9;

                // Other properties go here

            }

        }

        I use this type of thing all the time to quickly alter a form. Such a script isn't added anywhere, just executed (e.g., JavaScript console). Over time a developer can build up a collection of utility scripts that can do all sorts of things to dramatically speed up development. It would be bad if this option were not available.

        If there is a bug, it should certainly be addressed, so don't think I'm arguing against that, but I'm not seeing it on any of my systems. I can successfully set the default field properties by selecting "Use Current Properties as New Defaults". The Form Wizard does not use these defaults, but that's a different matter.

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