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J
Janet Harvey
Participating Frequently
August 6, 2018
Answered

Text in form field disappears unless you click on field

  • August 6, 2018
  • 3 replies
  • 58246 views

I create forms with multiple fields. Fields are set up the same way by type. So my text fields are multi-line with scrolling, spell-check and rich text enabled. All Actions, Format, Validation and Calculate options are set the same. Obviously, the positions vary and the name field differs, however, the other options are identical in these tabs.

On occasions, some of the fields will accept input and when you click away the field looks blank. If you click on the field it shows the text which was entered. In the same Adobe PDF form, some fields will have this issues while others work perfectly.

I changed all my form fields to use "Auto" font size, which appear to make the forms more stable. Now, I found this doesn't always work.

I recently tried to find information on best practices, causes, troubleshooting or anything that could help me ensure stable forms. I have found nothing except change the font size, which I had already guessed at as noted.

My latest guess to correct the problem is to remove special characters from the field names. For now, it worked. I am just waiting to find out that the two options combined still don't make the form stable.

If Adobe PDF has a bug that can't be isolated, are there any recommendations on how to create a form that can be used by multiple people and shared with multiple authorized people?

Thank you for your help.

    Correct answer jasons43148506

    I am having the same issue. I tried your sultion but didn't work

    I have windows machine. I changed the name of the field many times and I removed special characacters with same issue

     

    Can you help me out ?

     


    I had this issue and solved it in my case by changing the font on all of the fields from Times Roman to Helvetica.

    I've never actually heard of Times Roman - only Times and Times New Roman!

    I can't comment on how my document was originally set up because it was a created outside of my organisation.

    Hope this helps someone.

    Thanks

    3 replies

    N
    nathan5C22
    Participating Frequently
    August 24, 2021

    It could be that you copied a field and then never moved the copied one. So if you have the forms Highlighted (you can turn it off in Edit--> Preferences --> Forms) one form can highlight out the other.

    You can see all your fields in the Prepare Form mode. Select all the duplicates and delete them. Then try typing in the fields again and see if it works.

      

    N
    nathan5C22
    Participating Frequently
    August 24, 2021

    I posted this answer in https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat/hebrew-or-any-rtl-text-in-form-field-disappears-unless-you-click-on-it/m-p/10576537 also.

    schexpir
    schexpir
    Participant
    August 17, 2019

    Just had the problem with disappearing text in a form I downloaded. It was only in some fields. With the Acrobat forms utility I recognized that in those fields the font size was set to auto unlike in the other fields. After I set the font size to a certain value the text didnt disappear anymore. Problem solved.

    B
    benazir_3305
    Participant
    January 14, 2025

    This fixed the issue for me. Having the font size set instead of auto! Thank you for your post!!

    try67
    Community Expert
    try67Community Expert
    Community Expert
    August 6, 2018

    It would be helpful if you could share a sample file that demonstrates this

    issue...

    J
    Janet HarveyAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    August 7, 2018

    How do I attach a file?

    G
    George_Johnson
    Inspiring
    August 7, 2018

    Thank you for your prompt response.

    Yes, most of these documents at one time came from Word or from inDesign. The Word documents ARE NOT forms. They are text and image only.

    As for the font, we do use proprietary fonts. Avenir and Minion are the body of the document. Given these are proprietary we make all input fields Arial as this is a common font.

    In some cases, the documents had other authors and there may be other fonts embedded which are not in use. Are you suggesting that the embedded text need to be only what is in the document? Is there a way I can set the default for the input fields to Arial?

    Can you elaborate on: "I do see that the text is not set as default text, but rather as filled from the form. It is not visible in the default data but rather appears as if the form is filled by a previous user. (clearing/resetting the form deletes the content)". The form is downloaded by each participant and input by that participant. They are not "reused". I cannot control if someone enters and clears their own text.

    Any clue as to why it works for most of the document then fails?


    You should not set text fields to use Arial unless you have a very good reason for doing so. When you specify a non-base-14 font (e.g., Helvetica, Times, Courier, etc.), Acrobat will include the entire font file, which is quite large for Arial. If you specify Helvetica instead, Acrobat (and Reader, etc.) will use a private version of Arial anyway, since it's considered a suitable replacement for Helvetica. This type of substitution is allowed by the spec. The problem is if you change all of your text fields back to Helvetica and do a Save As, you won't see the expected decrease in file size (which is currently needlessly large) due to what I consider to be a bug in Acrobat, but there are ways around it if you're interested.

    I don't have any problem with your form and have no idea if the font issue has anything to do with it, but it's worth trying a fresh version and setting the field fonts to Helvetica.

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