This tutorial shows how to add and format text in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat.
[Typewriter sounds]
Hello, my name is Erin.
I’m a technical writer and editor who shares step-by-step software tutorials and writing tips for the real world
on this channel and on my blog at erinwrightwriting.com.
Today’s tutorial shows how to add text in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat,
We'll also look at how to add text to an existing text box,
how to resize a text box,
how to create vertical text,
and how to delete a text box.
In addition, we will look at how to format text.
Formatting includes the font, font size, color, emphasis, alignments, and spacing.
At the end, we will also walk through the steps to set a default font and font size for adding text to your PDF.
It’s important to mention that Adobe Acrobat’s editing tools can only add text to one page at a time.
If you need to add a large amount of text across multiple pages,
consider doing so in Microsoft Word and then converting the Word file to a PDF.
I’ll be using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC.
These steps will also work in Acrobat Standard DC, Acrobat 2020, and Acrobat 2017.
Adobe’s free PDF display software, Acrobat Reader, doesn’t provide a way to add text to PDFs.
Before we start, please note that these steps assume you are adding text to an existing PDF.
If you need to create a new PDF or add a blank page to an existing PDF,
please see my other tutorial “How to Create a Blank PDF in Adobe Acrobat,” which is linked in the description box below.
To begin adding text, select the Tools tab.
Then, select Edit PDF from the Tools Center.
Next, select Add Text from the Edit PDF toolbar.
Now, create a scalable text box or a fixed-width text box.
Scalable text boxes extend from the cursor to the right margin and the bottom margin of the page as text is added.
To create a scalable text box, place your cursor anywhere on the page and then type or copy and paste text onto the page.
Fixed-width text boxes maintain their original width and only scale lengthwise to the end of the page to accommodate additional text.
To create a fixed-width text box, drag your cursor to create the box and then type or copy and paste text into the box.
You can add text to an existing text box if space allows.
In the next section we’ll look at how to resize your text box if you need to accommodate additional text.
To add text to an existing text box, select Edit in the Edit PDF toolbar.
Then, insert your cursor into the text box and type or copy and paste the additional text.
To resize a text box, select Edit in the Edit PDF toolbar.
And then hover your cursor over one of the border handles, which look like small squares,
until your cursor becomes a resizing cursor, which is two lines with two arrows.
Now, drag the cursor to resize the text box larger or smaller.
A small, yellow warning icon will appear near the text box if a portion of the text is not visible due to a lack of space.
By default, Acrobat’s Add Text tool inserts horizontal text.
However, you can easily create vertical text through the shortcut menu.
To begin, select Add Text from the Edit PDF toolbar.
Then, drag the text box to the required size.
Next, right-click the text box and select "Make text direction vertical" from the shortcut menu.
Now you can type or copy and paste text into the text box.
The text box may become wider after selecting the vertical option.
If that’s the case, you can hover your cursor over one of the border handles and use the resizing cursor to resize the text box.
Please note that you can right-click a text box with existing text and select "Make text direction vertical" from the shortcut menu.
However, the vertical option won’t appear if there is not enough space for the existing text to be placed vertically.
If you decide you want to reverse vertical text back to horizontal text,
right-click the text box and select "Make text direction horizontal" from the shortcut menu.
To delete a text box, again select Edit in the Edit PDF toolbar.
And then hover your cursor over the border of the text box until your cursor becomes a movement cursor, which is two crossed arrows.
Now you can press the Delete key on your keyboard.
Or, you can right-click and select Delete from the shortcut menu.
Your text box should be deleted immediately.
Now we’re going to look at how to format text.
To begin, select Edit in the Edit PDF toolbar.
Next, select the text you want to format.
If you want to select the entire text box, place your cursor in the text box, and then PC users can select Ctrl + A on the keyboard.
Once some or all of your text is selected, you can choose the options you want from the Format pane.
We have font, font size, font color, emphasis, which is bold, italic, and underlining,
superscript and subscript, bulleted and numbered lists, alignment, line and paragraph spacing, and scaling and character spacing.
[Upbeat background music]
After you’ve made your choices, your format changes should appear immediately.
You can set a default font and font size for future text added to your PDF.
This selection won’t affect existing text.
To begin, select the Edit tab.
Followed by Preferences from the drop-down menu.
Next, select Content Editing from the Categories menu in the Preferences dialog box.
Now, select a font from the Default font for Add Text menu.
This menu should include all the fonts installed on your computer.
You can also select a size from the Font Size menu.
When you’re finished, select the OK button to close the Preferences dialog box.
Text added in the future should now be formatted with your default font and font size.
As always, remember to save your PDF to save your changes.
I have created many other videos about Adobe Acrobat, including “How to Add Headers and Footers to PDFs in Adobe Acrobat”
and “How to Convert PDFs to Microsoft Word Files in Adobe Acrobat.”
Please see the playlist titled “How to Use Adobe Acrobat,” which is linked below, for the complete list.
The companion blog post for this video showing all the steps we just performed appears on
erinwrightwriting.com, which is also linked below.
Feel free to leave me a comment if there’s a specific topic related to Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Word, or Google Docs
that you would like me to talk about in the future.
And please subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss future tutorials.
And give this video a thumbs-up if you found it helpful.
Thank you so much for watching!
[Typewriter sounds]