How to type onto a PDF (or Adobe for idiots) question

[Flopotomist]

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OK, SO I thought I would be all clever and purchase Adobe Acrobat so that I could actually type into these PDF secondaries that require typed answers, but alas, can NOT figure out how to type onto these forms. I don't even know anybody that has an old school typewriter, so how are you guys typing these? Is there some obvious trick that I am missing? I am about to open it in a paint program and carefully put text boxes all over the place if i can't figure this out, but that will take forever. Help!

 

[medhacker]

You can only type into pdfs with acrobat professional.

 

[Flopotomist]

You can only type into pdfs with acrobat professional.

Grrr... so we are all expected to actually (gasp) find an old school typewriter or spend mucho bank on adobe pro? Darnit, there must be a better way.

 

[63768]

some people on this board are gracious enough to use their version of acrobat pro to create fillable pdfs. so you can search and it might be on here. i've seen the drexel and a few other secondaries on here that were converted to fillable pdfs.

 

[DrBowtie]

Flop go to www.download.com and search for PDF editors. You should be able to get a freeware program to do what you want.

 

[Flopotomist]

In case anybody was wondering, I decided to just write up the answers in a word document, and then print it, cut out the answers, paste them onto the printed PDF secondary, xerox the whole thing with "edge reduction" selected on the copier and I'll be darned - it looks great!

 

[NapeSpikes]

Hi. Since you say you "purchased" Adobe Acrobat, I assume you mean you have Adobe Standard, and not just the free reader. If that is the case, you can indeed type onto the forms. Don't worry, it took me a while to figure it out, too.

Go to Tools>Advanced Editing>TouchUp Text tool. And then just type directly onto the form 👍

Or, if you don't like the automatic font style/size, you could go to Tools>Advanced Commenting>Textbox Tool and then draw your text box and type into that. The box appears colored, but it doesn't show up when you print.

 

[medhacker]

And then how do you save the text you wrote on the form?
and does that work with non-fillable PDFs? Thanks
🙂

 

[novawildcat]

you can also just type or do what ever you want in word etc. and if you have acrobat distiller you can just click print and it will create a pdf file for you.

 

[docbill]

you can also just type or do what ever you want in word etc. and if you have acrobat distiller you can just click print and it will create a pdf file for you.

You can take a picture of the PDF.. with the camera icon on the top left.

Paste it into Power point (You will have to confingure the size to be 11 x8.5) and use the text icon to write on it. Then just print it right out of Powerpoint.

Others have suggested using acrobat photo ... or photo shop program of some sort.

 

[NapeSpikes]

And then how do you save the text you wrote on the form?
and does that work with non-fillable PDFs? Thanks
🙂

You save it by hitting the little floppy disk button near the top left corner. And yes, it can be used for non-fillable pdf's because you are editing the text directly, or you are drawing in your own text boxes to make the form fillable.

Again, this is with Adobe Standard. If you paid for any Adobe Acrobat, you should be able to fill out pdf's directly without other programs. (You can't with only Acrobat Reader, but that's free.)

There are other good suggestions above, but if you already have Standard, this would be the simplest.

 

[MDhopeful023]

In case anybody was wondering, I decided to just write up the answers in a word document, and then print it, cut out the answers, paste them onto the printed PDF secondary, xerox the whole thing with "edge reduction" selected on the copier and I'll be darned - it looks great!

WOW that is dedication Flopotomist!! I actually typed my applications by the old fashion way... the trypewriter= many many drafts 😳

 

[Flopotomist]

WOW that is dedication Flopotomist!! I actually typed my applications by the old fashion way... the trypewriter= many many drafts 😳

Doing with real scissors and a real glue stick was SOOOO much faster than trying to figure out the computer, or trying to use an old typewriter. I was done with the Drew secondary in less than two hours, start to finish.

 

[jbing]

can't believe no one mentioned this yet:

1.open up your pdf in adobe acrobat (does NOT have to be "pro", i have 5.0 and it works fine)

2. on the toolbar you will see a number of little icons. if you run your mouse over them, it will give you the name of the tool for that specific icon. you want the button that says "Form Tool". (it should be the one next to the icon with the hollow letter "T")

3. click on the form tool button

4. on your document just click and drag a box into the space you want to type

5. once you do that, a "field properties" box will pop up with lots of options. in "name" type in a brief name for the box you just created. IMPORTANT NOTE: each one of these boxes you create has to have a UNIQUE NAME in the field properties box. if you give two boxes the same name, any time you edit one box adobe will fill all of them with the same text.

6. go through your document and create these boxes anywhere you want to type text.

7. now on the toolbar, click on the solid letter "T" (not the hollow letter "T")

8. click over the general region where you put the boxes, you will get a cursor and can type right into it.

9. save and print.

doing it this way is better than just using the "free text tool". with the free text tool you have to adjust the fonts and worry about fitting things into the box. BUT..the great thing about the Form Tool is that the program adjusts the font AS YOU TYPE. so you don't have to worry about changing the font size, it does it for you, and it looks really professional.