This is the best video for this on RUclips. I wasted SO much time on other videos before I finally found this one, and my document is now beautiful and works flawlessly! Thank you!
Heather Eierman 1 second ago Thank you! I just discovered that by selecting all (com a for mac) in 'prepare form' you can then right click and select properties to change the alignment for every text box. This saved me a ton of time for a very long form.
Awesome video! Thank you! I also wanted to be able to allow the end user to save the data once they filled it out. After much searching and playing around, I found that you can use File --> Save As --> Reader Extended PDF --> Enable Additional Features. If this option is not active (dulled out), make sure that the purple/lavender/lilac bar that reads "Please fill out the following form...." appears at the top. If it's not visible, click on the first Icon on the pane/bar on the left side of the work area. This is the Highlight Existing Fields tool. Once the tool is active, follow the steps above. Hope this helps someone. :)
Ahhh I was spending ages trying to find out how to format the naff TNR black font in InDesign but this is obviously the solution. Thank you so much! This is definitely the best tutorial on this. :)
This is great, thanks for the simple and straightforward tutorial. One follow up question: When formatting the editable font in InDesign, you can set font, size, and style, but there's no way to set the alignment? When I open the PDF it's always left aligned but I don't see a way to change that on the InDesign side.
I'm not sure if there is a way to do this. The blue is just a way of highlighting the fields that are editable. If you were to print it the blue will not print. I hope that helps!
You can shift + select multiple fields and change the properties that way. Probably faster. My only gripe is difficulty in getting typography formatting (kerning, line height) with the text fields... Great tutorial!
Nicely done Gina! Clear and succinct. Thank you for the reminder of how to do this. But do you happen to know if image fields can be added from InDesign? I know it can be done from Acrobat Pro DC, but there are sizing limitations to those image fields. Meaning, when the end-user places an image, the size is disproportionally small in relation to the image field. Expanding the image field to accommodate these small images only serves to cover the text fields, rendering them inaccessible on the form.
Hi, thanks for sharing this ! I'm designing a template for a client, and she doesn't have Adobe Acrobat Pro. Can she still modify it with any other PDF reader ? It doesn't seem to work. I'm wandering if i made my interactive PDF wrong or if you absolutely need Acrobat Pro. If someone knows the answer ... Thanks !!
Great tutorial! Really helpful! Is there not a way to assign default values for form fields using InDesign? You have to use Acrobat Pro to do this? Ugh... I sure hope there is. Thanks again for the great tutorial!
Great tutorial! the only thing i'm wondering: is there a way to edit the text rules in indesign yet? would be great to do everything in just 1 export...!
Thanks for the great video. My client does not have the Prepare Form button/function in their version of Acrobat though. In the past they have used the Fill & Sign to edit pdfs. When I followed your steps the Fill & Sign does not allow a user to edit the fieilds. Do you or does anyone else have any experience with the Fill & Sign function?
Thanks for that. I've got a few questions. I am making a brochure for my business. I want my team to be able to change the clients name, address and rates before sending so this looks like a good idea. However, after doing some trials it seems I cannot save the pdf so it cannot be edited again once the fields have been completed. Is there an other way?
Thank you for the video. Just out of curiosity, do you use InDesign to aid in placing the form elements? I'm not seeing the benefit of starting it in InDesign, when you still have to finish it in Acrobat Pro. Is it not just as easy to create the form elements in Acrobat Pro? No matter what, you're dealing with the clunkiness of Acrobat. It would be nice if everything could be done on the InDesign side and then exported as a finished, fillable PDF.
I really wish everything could be done in InDesign. To me, that makes the most sense. As I said to another commenter, In the year since I made this hopefully they have added that ability, I just haven't had the need to try and test it. I don't see why you couldn't add the form elements totally in Acrobat Pro, I just chose to do it this way.
Thank you for this video! I have a quick question though, for Acrobat. I'm creating text fields for an interactive PDF, but when I save and export the PDF and test the text fields, it does something strange. The text field, though sized for an entire paragraph, starts in the middle of the field, and is the length of one single, infinite line, instead of beginning at the top left-hand corner and automatically moving to the next line at the end of the edge of the field. Seems to work in "preview" mode, just not after the file is saved and exported. Like I said, strange problem. Is it possible to fix this? It's for a client. Thanks!
Hi, Sorry I'm not an expert so wouldn't be able to help. First port of call would be to check the text field settings though. #statingtheobvious I hope you figure it out.
Hi there all, this is been a very helpful start to learning how to make editable PDFs. But I have about 10 forms with about with about 64 editable boxes on each... And 95% of these need to have the Same text properties (Font size, entered and Colour). I there a quick way to apply these factors? Any guidance would be much appreciated.
How do you make the text field blue and then have the color disappear when the person types in the field. I've tried to set up my text field the same way I've seen it in several videos, but I always end up with invisible fields in my form. If I fill it with a swatch color, it remains permanent. I just want the person to know where to type and if they print it, that the color won't appear.
Do you know if it only works with certain types of Adobe? because I have Adobe Acrobat Reader DC and text fields doesn't appear to fill them, so I don't know what to do
WOW!!! What an incredibly fast response! Thank you! Yeah... I am not finding anything either. I have been using Photoshop for years now but new to InDesign. I am not in love with it thus far. The good news is... what you laid out in your tutorial should at least get the job done for me even if it is a little more tedious than I'd prefer. Not your fault though. Would be nice if they kind of merged the functionality of Acrobat and InDesign. Stinks you gotta use two tools to accomplish these things. Thanks again for the tutorial and the super quick response!!
I think Adobe makes it so hard. Why can't it set the font automatically? PDF is supposed to be an encapsulating, practical type of document, but it often creates so much extra work.
I completely agree. They really should have enabled this as a feature of the export, rather than requiring an additional program to edit those features.
I haven’t tested it but I expect these would be set as per any exported pdf for print. Opening the pdf later in Acrobat _shouldn’t_ strip out these setting.
@@Violetsteel_ I just tested it, these fields disappear when exporting to print. But there is kind of a workaround - You can just create the forms in Adobe Pro DC, not very convenient but...
I know this video is extremely old, but I am curious why you wouldn't have done all of this in Adobe Pro. But, I want to be able to style my fonts and this can't be done?
What products from Adobe though? For things like this I've used a combination of Photoshop, InDesign and Acrobat to get the outcome I needed. If you mean doing it all in Acrobat, then maybe, but as a Designer that wouldn't be my preferred way.
@@Violetsteel_ Hi Gena... All the video shows you doing is placing your text holders in InDesign, the actual form you did in Adobe Acrobat. All that you showed doing in InDesign can be done in Adobe and actually much easier. I would do as you did, style your Certificate (in this case) in InDesign, and then take the project to Adobe to add the text fields, never mind the interactive part in InDesign because it is not necessary. The reason I came across your video is that I was designing a form where I wanted the user to be able to have a specific font (particularly Small Caps) when they typed in their document and did not find a way to do this.
Omgg so helpful!! I watched lots of videos and none of them explained how to manage text properties 🥰🥰🥰adore you girl!!!!
You are a lifesaver! Thank you so much. Could not figure out how to change the text to justified!
Thank you for this tutorial. It was the most helpful and easy to understand. Helped me work through a solution that I needed quickly. Thanks so much!!
Thank you. Your video solved my problem.
Thank you! This was very helpful.
Thank you babe! I knew there was an easy way to do it. You rock
Happy to help! :)
This is the best video for this on RUclips. I wasted SO much time on other videos before I finally found this one, and my document is now beautiful and works flawlessly! Thank you!
Thank you for such a lovely comment. I'm not much into making videos but I'm so pleased that people find this one so helpful :)
its absolutely ridiculous that the pdf doesnt maintain the text format settings from Indesign. Its such a waste of time
@@shady_mixes When I did the same in InDesign and set the font etc, it did carry over. On latest version of InDesign though (as of FEB 2019).
Thank you for uploading. Simple but enough little details, menus, warnings and checks. Easy to follow!
You totally saved me. I am so excited to do this, I was searching for how to change the text in acrobat. THANK YOU !!!
Happy to help! :)
Heather Eierman
1 second ago
Thank you! I just discovered that by selecting all (com a for mac) in 'prepare form' you can then right click and select properties to change the alignment for every text box. This saved me a ton of time for a very long form.
perfect. very helpful.
Thanks a lot.
btw Adobe InDesign 2020 lets you choose the font and its size too
Awesome video! Thank you!
I also wanted to be able to allow the end user to save the data once they filled it out. After much searching and playing around, I found that you can use File --> Save As --> Reader Extended PDF --> Enable Additional Features. If this option is not active (dulled out), make sure that the purple/lavender/lilac bar that reads "Please fill out the following form...." appears at the top. If it's not visible, click on the first Icon on the pane/bar on the left side of the work area. This is the Highlight Existing Fields tool. Once the tool is active, follow the steps above. Hope this helps someone. :)
Marni Smith Thanks for the additional information. I'm sure someone else would have been looking for the same feature :)
Ahhh I was spending ages trying to find out how to format the naff TNR black font in InDesign but this is obviously the solution. Thank you so much! This is definitely the best tutorial on this. :)
Yes, this video is fantastic.
I'm so glad that even after 5 years people still find this helpful :)
This was great - easy to follow! Thanks!
This is great, thanks for the simple and straightforward tutorial.
One follow up question:
When formatting the editable font in InDesign, you can set font, size, and style, but there's no way to set the alignment? When I open the PDF it's always left aligned but I don't see a way to change that on the InDesign side.
Do you mean just normal text alignment? Check out this video: ruclips.net/video/cgL0f2dNZ4U/видео.html
Excellent video, very precise and to the point, great job!
Thank you :)
Thanks for your video, helped me a lot! but can one go back and forth editing the file from Acrobat to Indesign?
I'm not sure tbh. Give it a try and let us know!
Thanks. It's still hard to believe that InDesign STILL can't export those properties after all this time.
Very helpful, thanks!
YOU ARE A GENIUS! THANKS GINA!
Thank you, this was precisely what I was looking for -- much appreciated.
My pleasure :)
Excellent tutorial. Thank you!
Really useful. Just what I was looking for. Thanks so much:)
:) I'm glad it helped.
Excellent video, very helpful. Thank you!
Super useful, this is exactly what I was looking for, thanks!
Yay! I'm glad you found it useful :)
Stright to the point. Thank you so much, this really helped alot.
You have made my day Gina J!
Thank you! Saved my day.
Yay! I’m glad it helped you 🙂
Thank you! So quick and simple :)
hello thanks for the video. How to avoid the blue of the text fields and become it transparent?
I'm not sure if there is a way to do this. The blue is just a way of highlighting the fields that are editable. If you were to print it the blue will not print. I hope that helps!
Thank you for you video, you save me !!!
Thank you so much, your my life saver
I'm so glad you found it useful :)
You can shift + select multiple fields and change the properties that way. Probably faster.
My only gripe is difficulty in getting typography formatting (kerning, line height) with the text fields...
Great tutorial!
That's a handy tip! Thanks :)
VERY helpful tutorial - Thank you. Do you know if it's possible to ad pictures in the editable PDF?
great tutorial. Thanks for the help!
This is GREAT! Thank you so much!
Thank you so much. It really works
Awesome tut! Thank you!
Nicely done Gina! Clear and succinct. Thank you for the reminder of how to do this. But do you happen to know if image fields can be added from InDesign? I know it can be done from Acrobat Pro DC, but there are sizing limitations to those image fields. Meaning, when the end-user places an image, the size is disproportionally small in relation to the image field. Expanding the image field to accommodate these small images only serves to cover the text fields, rendering them inaccessible on the form.
Hi Rona, I’vr not tried adding images I’m afraid, so I don’t know. Sorry.
Thank you! Super duper uber helpful.
great tutorial. thank you
thanks for the tutorial, it was simple, helpful and very to the point thanks :P
My pleasure. I'm so pleased people are finding it helpful.
Hi, thanks for sharing this ! I'm designing a template for a client, and she doesn't have Adobe Acrobat Pro. Can she still modify it with any other PDF reader ? It doesn't seem to work. I'm wandering if i made my interactive PDF wrong or if you absolutely need Acrobat Pro. If someone knows the answer ... Thanks !!
Did you ever find the answer to this? Having similar issue, but almost 99% sure you need acrobat
Thank you...
I owe you, happy client...
I'm so glad that people still find this useful :)
Saved me a lot of trouble ;) Thanks!!
I'm glad you found it useful :)
thankyou very much
Thanks, this is very helpful.
Thanks Gina
Thank you
GJ, thanks for posting this!
Really useful!
Thank you so much!
You legend!! Thank you for this.
Great job, thanks.
Great tutorial! Really helpful! Is there not a way to assign default values for form fields using InDesign? You have to use Acrobat Pro to do this? Ugh... I sure hope there is. Thanks again for the great tutorial!
Equip2Survive I couldn't find a way to do it in InDesign, and not for lack of googling. If you find a way I'd love to know :)
Thx for sharing!
:) Happy to help!
Great tutorial! the only thing i'm wondering: is there a way to edit the text rules in indesign yet? would be great to do everything in just 1 export...!
Thanks. I'm glad people still find it useful :) I don't know if the process has been improved as I haven't had to create one in quite a while.
Thanks for the great video. My client does not have the Prepare Form button/function in their version of Acrobat though. In the past they have used the Fill & Sign to edit pdfs. When I followed your steps the Fill & Sign does not allow a user to edit the fieilds. Do you or does anyone else have any experience with the Fill & Sign function?
I don't know. Sorry. :/
Awesome Video!! how do you make the text sit on the actual line, its a bit high on your video
You can just move around the text boxes to perfect the alignment.
Thanks!
Thanks for that. I've got a few questions. I am making a brochure for my business. I want my team to be able to change the clients name, address and rates before sending so this looks like a good idea. However, after doing some trials it seems I cannot save the pdf so it cannot be edited again once the fields have been completed. Is there an other way?
Can you make a copy of the master PDF before editing and saving it?
Great video 😊
Happy to help! :)
How do you make the form fields invisible? Mine are showing up light purple when I convert to PDFand I want them to appear with no color. Thanks
Fantastic - thank you! :D
Thank you for the video. Just out of curiosity, do you use InDesign to aid in placing the form elements? I'm not seeing the benefit of starting it in InDesign, when you still have to finish it in Acrobat Pro. Is it not just as easy to create the form elements in Acrobat Pro? No matter what, you're dealing with the clunkiness of Acrobat. It would be nice if everything could be done on the InDesign side and then exported as a finished, fillable PDF.
I really wish everything could be done in InDesign. To me, that makes the most sense. As I said to another commenter, In the year since I made this hopefully they have added that ability, I just haven't had the need to try and test it. I don't see why you couldn't add the form elements totally in Acrobat Pro, I just chose to do it this way.
Thank you.
Thank you for this video! I have a quick question though, for Acrobat. I'm creating text fields for an interactive PDF, but when I save and export the PDF and test the text fields, it does something strange. The text field, though sized for an entire paragraph, starts in the middle of the field, and is the length of one single, infinite line, instead of beginning at the top left-hand corner and automatically moving to the next line at the end of the edge of the field. Seems to work in "preview" mode, just not after the file is saved and exported. Like I said, strange problem. Is it possible to fix this? It's for a client. Thanks!
Hi, Sorry I'm not an expert so wouldn't be able to help. First port of call would be to check the text field settings though. #statingtheobvious I hope you figure it out.
Thank you!!!!!
Hi there all, this is been a very helpful start to learning how to make editable PDFs.
But I have about 10 forms with about with about 64 editable boxes on each... And 95% of these need to have the Same text properties (Font size, entered and Colour).
I there a quick way to apply these factors?
Any guidance would be much appreciated.
Hi, Other users have pointed out that you can actually selected multiple boxes and edit them together if they have the same properties :)
@@Violetsteel_ Yo've made my day, thanks for the super quick response!!!! :)))))
I learnt quite a bit more yesterday working on that job most of the day and have 5 more to do today... So an old dog can learn new tricks. :)
@@Percival1919 Every day is a school day! :)
How do you make the text field blue and then have the color disappear when the person types in the field. I've tried to set up my text field the same way I've seen it in several videos, but I always end up with invisible fields in my form. If I fill it with a swatch color, it remains permanent. I just want the person to know where to type and if they print it, that the color won't appear.
You needn´t set every box individually, just click ctrl+A and set the format of all boxes...
Thank you so much! It's really easy if you know how ;)
hi , its possibile remove the pink background of text box in PDF ?
Is there a way to adjust the letter spacing in the form fields?
Natalie Ngo I’m not sure, sorry.
Do you know if it only works with certain types of Adobe? because I have Adobe Acrobat Reader DC and text fields doesn't appear to fill them, so I don't know what to do
I don't know. Sorry!
Perfect!
Hi, How can Align Text Field "Text" ? Do you know? Please
How can you make it so that the text colors and fonts can be changed in reader?
I suspect anyone can do that in the full version of Acrobat, but not Reader, but I'm not totally certain on that to be honest.
Since it's 2018, has Adobe figured a way to format text before exporting?
I haven't had to do this in a while so haven't tried. Let me know if you find out! :)
2019 and trying to figure out the same thing
If you want the format of the text to always be in all caps for one of the boxes how do you do that?
Sorry, I don't know how to do that, and can't see an simple option for it in the Field Properties box.
WOW!!! What an incredibly fast response! Thank you! Yeah... I am not finding anything either. I have been using Photoshop for years now but new to InDesign. I am not in love with it thus far. The good news is... what you laid out in your tutorial should at least get the job done for me even if it is a little more tedious than I'd prefer. Not your fault though. Would be nice if they kind of merged the functionality of Acrobat and InDesign. Stinks you gotta use two tools to accomplish these things. Thanks again for the tutorial and the super quick response!!
I think Adobe makes it so hard. Why can't it set the font automatically? PDF is supposed to be an encapsulating, practical type of document, but it often creates so much extra work.
I completely agree. They really should have enabled this as a feature of the export, rather than requiring an additional program to edit those features.
To duplicate, do you mean just copy and paste?
Effectively, yes.
Can You export editable PDF for print purpose, with spot colors, and crop marks?
I haven’t tested it but I expect these would be set as per any exported pdf for print. Opening the pdf later in Acrobat _shouldn’t_ strip out these setting.
@@Violetsteel_ I just tested it, these fields disappear when exporting to print. But there is kind of a workaround - You can just create the forms in Adobe Pro DC, not very convenient but...
I’m glad you found a way to make it work. It’s been a while since I needed to do anything like this.
I know this video is extremely old, but I am curious why you wouldn't have done all of this in Adobe Pro. But, I want to be able to style my fonts and this can't be done?
What products from Adobe though? For things like this I've used a combination of Photoshop, InDesign and Acrobat to get the outcome I needed. If you mean doing it all in Acrobat, then maybe, but as a Designer that wouldn't be my preferred way.
@@Violetsteel_ Hi Gena... All the video shows you doing is placing your text holders in InDesign, the actual form you did in Adobe Acrobat. All that you showed doing in InDesign can be done in Adobe and actually much easier. I would do as you did, style your Certificate (in this case) in InDesign, and then take the project to Adobe to add the text fields, never mind the interactive part in InDesign because it is not necessary. The reason I came across your video is that I was designing a form where I wanted the user to be able to have a specific font (particularly Small Caps) when they typed in their document and did not find a way to do this.
You legend!!!
are u australian south african or english?
South African/English. 🙂
Did you ever find a way to do text formatting?
I explain it in the video...
I wouldn't exactly call that an editable PDF; it's a PDF with fillable form fields...
Fair enough.
I would have enjoyed this video if you hadnt kept clearing the snot out of your throat! Cough properly man!
Siyathanda Izinyoka I have an issue where I struggle to clear my throat properly. But thanks for being a dick about it.
Very helpful. Thanks!