Participant

Answered

Is it possible to create a colour-coded legend in Adobe Reader?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
August 23, 2018
4 replies
6021 views

Hi,

I've highlighted different text using different colours in my PDF, and would like to create a legend at the top of the page stating what each colour is for so I don't have to comment on each highlight. Is this possible? I've tried typing in a text box but I can't highlight what's inside.

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Correct answer ~graffiti

You can probably do it with some of the commenting tools.

For instance, you can draw a box with the rectangle tool, right click the box and select properties. There you can add a fill and stroke color...etc.

Then use the add text tool to create text next to the box.

jane-e

Community Expert

Clairie,

You would be able to create the legend using the edit tools of the paid version of Acrobat. Is that an option? You can get a free trial for seven days and can also get a one-month plan for $25 if you don't want annual. Is that an option? Be sure to read the subscription terms and cancel if you don't want to continue.

https://acrobat.adobe.com/us/en/free-trial-download.html

Info here:

https://acrobat.adobe.com/us/en/acrobat/pricing.html

~graffiti

Legend

Unfortunately, no. That would require actual editing abilities which Reader does not have. Sorry.

C

clarie91sAuthor

Participant

Darn... Oh well, I guess I'll just have to make a new legend for each.

These are PDFs downloaded online, so no "pre-PDF" version. But I'll keep this in mind for next time. Thanks again for your replies!

~graffiti

Legend

One thing to keep in mind, if you want that to print out, you either need to flatten the pdf (which Reader cannot do) or be sure to have "Document and markups" selected in the print dialog.

~graffitiCorrect answer

Legend

You can probably do it with some of the commenting tools.

For instance, you can draw a box with the rectangle tool, right click the box and select properties. There you can add a fill and stroke color...etc.

Then use the add text tool to create text next to the box.

C

clarie91sAuthor

Participant

Thank you for your reply! Is there a way to copy and paste the text boxes into another PDF? I have a bunch of PDFs that need the same legend. I can't seem to copy and paste it normally, and I tried "Take a snapshot" but I can't paste it.

~graffiti

Legend

And I'm probably going to tell you something you already know (or just don't have the option to do) but, this all really should have been done in the original documents (pre-pdf) then the pdf should have been created with all of this done already. Then you could have easily copy/pasted between the documents. Editing a pdf itself is usually considered a last option.

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