Text field not changing to comb

[SuziS_UK]

Hi there,

I am creating an onscreen form from an existing pdf.  The original format version isn't available as it's a government form.

I am adding fields so I can type my responses and I need to add some information as a comb of characters, yet when I select this option and type the number of characters required, then press OK, the field doesn't change.  It stays as a text field.

any thoughts?

thanks,

Su

[try67]

Why would it change to anything else? Try filling in a value and you'll see the effect of this property.

[SuziS_UK]

try67,  thank you for your reply.

I am expecting to see it change from a regular text box to a grid of, in this case, 7 spaces.  It doesn't.  It stays as a text box and doesn't treat the information entered into it as if it was a comb of text.

[try67]

Yes, it should show a grid and the text you enter in it should be divided.

Does that not happen after you press Close? What exact version of Acrobat are you using (look under Help - About Adobe Acrobat)?

[SuziS_UK]

No, the screeenshot I provided is after I have clicked CLOSE.

Re the version number: I'm using Adobe Pro on a Windows 10 device, version 2017.008.30051

[try67]

Make sure you install all available updates and then try again.

[SuziS_UK]

Thanks try67,  do you know what the latest version number is please?

My installation is a volume licence provided to my employer and they may or may not update the software every time it is updated.

[try67]

For Acrobat 2017 it's 17.011.30106, as far as I can tell.

[SuziS_UK]

Thank you for that.

The ability to create a comb of characters has been around for years, so surely it's not a version number issue but I'll certainly look into that.

I'll update this thread once this has been done.

Thanks again,

Su

[try67]

It could certainly be a bug that's specific to one version and was solved

later on.

[Debbie Morris · Accepted solution]

Try setting a border color for the field. Once I chose a border color for the text field, the grid lines for each character displayed as expected.

Before adding a border color:

After adding a border color (gray):

[try67]

OK, yes, but didn't you also said that you tried the field and it didn't work correctly?

[SuziS_UK]

Hi Debbie,

I owe you an apology; yes, this is the answer!

In previous versions of adobe the text box has changed to show all of the boxes, but in this version it didn't and I needed to apply the appearance mask to it in order to show it actually as a combo box.

Thank you, I should have just tried this in the first place