Formatting a Text Box
The Text Box Tool, part of the drawing comments on the Comment and Markup Tools toolbar, allows you to draw, well, a box with text in it. At first glance it's not immediately obvious that you have full control over the formatting of the text in it, as well as the box it's in. But you do, actually. This applies to Acrobat 8 and earlier.
To format the text, select what you want changed, then press Ctrl+E (Windows) or Cmd+E (Mac). That will open Acrobat's Properties Bar. From here you can choose font, weight, color, size, alignment, underline, strikethrough and super-/subscript attributes.
To format the box itself, click on the border to select the box (you'll see the corner grab handles) then right-/ctrl-click and choose Properties... Or you can use the Properties Bar again: it's context sensitive, and clicking on the box border will now give you the options to set fill and border color, line style, and opacity.
The Properties Bar comes to life during other tasks in Acrobat. I'll let you discover those on your own.
Comments
Googling through help, I discovered this site. I very much appreciate your blog as font and color were significant issues to me.
Posted by: Harvey Sorid | April 9, 2008 4:07 AM
Q: How to set the default setting for the Text Box? Changing the font size as above mentioned only works on one Text Box!
A: Just as would any other annotation! Set up a Text Box just the way you want. Then with the Hand Tool selected, right-click on the Text Box and choose "Make Current Properties Default".
Posted by: sherman | April 23, 2008 1:50 AM
This is driving me crazy - I'm now using acrobat 8 and no longer have formating for the text box tool - and the text is way too big. This is one of the primary reasons I have acrobat and they took away text box tool text formating...why?
A: No, it's definitely there - I wrote this article and took the screenshots using Acrobat 8. You may need to contact support or post to the Adobe online forums if you're still having problems. - Ali
Posted by: David | June 3, 2008 8:57 AM
Q: "Text Box Text Properties" bar - "This applies to Acrobat 8 and earlier" - What about Acrobat "9"? I 'select' text to format, but my 'new' 'improved' "Properties Bar" 'says' "No current selection" - Thx
A: It works the same in Acrobat 9! Make sure you have the cursor in the Text Box itself, then open the Properties Bar (Ctrl/Cmd + E). - Ali
Posted by: David Ebstein | July 1, 2008 1:32 PM
I believe that the last Q&A missed the point—the question relates to what is (I think) an actual bug in Acrobat. I found, in Acrobat 8, that no matter what I selected, the properties bar said "no current selection."
I solved this by closing all instances of Acrobat, including an instance embedded in a browser window, and reopening the document. The bug disappeared. I am guessing that Acrobat gets confused when it's simultaneously open in a browser window (where the functionality is limited) and a program window.
This is a common problem that I've seen asked, but never solved, on several websites. I hope this helps.
[From Ali: This may have been a bug, and it may have been addressed with the latest v8 updates or with v9, so I'll have to get back to you on this one. It should be noted that the Properties Toolbar doesn't work in the browser, and the conflict could be there. Separately, sometimes you need make sure the border of the comment is selected, not the text within it.]
Posted by: Brian Hagerty | August 15, 2008 9:43 PM
Answer to the "No Current Selection" bug: Close all instances of Acrobat, particularly any embedded in a browser which have limited functionality. THEN open the file you want to edit with your full Adobe version and it should work normally. There appears to be a bug that opens subsequent sessions with the some of the limitations carried over from browser embeds to the full version.
I have a project management system where I use HTML to browse and view my project files, and edit them with Word and Acrobat when necessary. If I am currently viewing any PDF's in a Firefox tab I forgot to close, I have this problem.
I hope this cures some frustrations out there!
[From Ali: Thanks for the additional information Rob.]
Posted by: R.Dymond | October 1, 2008 1:40 PM
OK, OK. I get how to change the text in the Review & Comment textbox. HOWEVER, the problem is the properties default. On your comment dated April 9, 2008, you say "Make Current Properties Default," but that only works for fill color and border color and thickness. It does not allow you to change the font default from red to black! In fact, whenever I click black for a font color on the Properties Bar, the bar essentially shuts down.
Posted by: Pawlie Kokonuts | November 1, 2008 5:05 PM
I take it back, sort of. I've just managed to change the font default to black. But, still, why would Adobe make its own default red?
[FROM ALI: It's good practice to make any comments or markup standout from the main content. Black text on a white page is what most people use, hence the default of red. And I distinctly remember all my high school teachers using a red pen when correcting my homework!]
Posted by: Pawlie Kokonuts | November 1, 2008 5:12 PM
Here's what I think is going on with the 'default properties' problem (on a Mac anyway):
- you can set the TEXT properties by first selecting text, as expected.
- you can set the TEXT BOX properties by first selecting the border, as expected.
- the right click to set current properties as default ONLY appears for Text Boxes (not as expected)
But....... that single action WILL also remember any new properties you had set for TEXT as new defaults (as well as the actual box properties) !
Rather unintuitive, but it worked for me !
Posted by: Steven | March 13, 2009 11:23 PM
PS I forgot to add that this seems to work for Text Box comments but not for the Typewriter tool - I have never found out how to change that from Courier.......
Posted by: Steven | March 13, 2009 11:29 PM