How do I delete text that I added to a scanned-doc PDF?

[Mobius Strip]

Hi all.

I have a PDF that is a scanned paper document. It's a form, so I opened it in Acrobat (latest version) and started adding text in the appropriate places.

Now I want to delete some of the text objects I just added. I can find no way to do this. Nor can I find any way to MOVE text (adjust its position on the page).

Anybody have insight on this infuriating situation? Thanks!

[Bernd Alheit]

How does you add the text?

[Mobius Strip]

With the text tool.

[Bernd Alheit]

Comment text tool? Form text tool? Or other tool?

[Mobius Strip]

I went to "Edit PDF" and then used the "add text" tool.

[Bernd Alheit]

Select the text and press delete.

[Mobius Strip]

That just puts a red line through it.

[Bernd Alheit]

Did you activate "Edit PDF" ?

[Mobius Strip]

Yes; you have to do that, or you can't add text. Here's the sequence, and what happens when I press Delete.

[try67]

You have to keep using the "Edit Text" tool to be able to delete this text.

[Mobius Strip]

Thanks. Another brilliant Adobe UI. I want to delete the entire text object; not just the characters. Thus, the logical choice is the selection tool. But it turns into a text-editing tool when you hover over the text... so there's no reason you'd assume that you have to use the (apparently redundant) text tool.

[Luke_Jennings · Accepted solution]

Once all the characters are deleted, the text box should vanish.

If you go to Tools> Edit PDF> Edit, and select the text box, you can either edit the content, rotate the box, or delete the box, depending on where you move the cursor. when the cursor looks like a 4 pointed arrow, you can delete the text and the box.

[Mobius Strip]

Thanks. I was in Edit mode. Typically a selection arrow will let you select an entire object, but in Acrobat it turns into a text-editing caret if you get anywhere near the next; using that to select and delete text results in a red line through it. So you have to back and select the Text tool in order to delete the entire object; just the opposite of the way most apps function.

[Test Screen Name]

Acrobat isn't mainly an editor though. It's barely one at all. However, it IS a tool for copy editing and mark-up (crossing out, for someone else to handle later, not editing).

[Mobius Strip]

That's fine. The problem is that it defies Adobe's own conventions and common sense.