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Forms -- Navigating after adding/editing fields and Eliminating the "highlighted bar" at top of document

Forum Index > Forms: Acrobat > Forms -- Navigating after adding/editing fields and Eliminating the "highlighted bar" at top of document
2011-09-17 21:38:11
Trial_User20
Registered: Sep 5 2011
Posts: 22
Answered

I had been using Acrobat 6.x; and I am trying out v10.
 
I have a document that I want to blank out some information. If I use Redaction, the information would be permanently deleted. So I decided to use a text field to cover up that information.
 
The text field is checked for read only and locked.
 
1. The problem is whenever I click on Forms > Edit (Or Add New Field), the area that shows Tools|Comment|Share changes to Forms [ONLY] -- i.e. the Tools|Comment|Share disappears. How do I get Tools|Comment|Share back on the Toolbar?
 
Right now, I save and close the document, then re-open the document. There must be an easier way.
 
2. Then when I re-open that document, between the toolbar and the top of the document, there is a purple horizontal "bar" right across the screen stating "Please fill out the following form. If you are a form author, choose Distribute from the Forms panel in the Tools Pane on the right to send it to your recipients."
 
This "form" will not be distributed; and no data will be collected. How do I get rid of that purple "bar"?
 
TIA
 

My Product Information:
Acrobat Pro 10.1, Windows
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2011-09-18 00:48:24
#1
maxwyss
Registered: Jul 25 2006
Posts: 255
Accepted Answer
You touch one of the sore spots with Acrobat, and you are not the first one being annoyed of that Forms Document Message Bar.

It is not possible to suppress it on document level; it can, however, be collapsed as an user preference. The best you can do is ask the user to click on the icon at the left of the bar, to collapse it.

Actually that bar appears when Acrobat/Reader discovers fillable fields. That means you should actually be able to make it not appear if you make sure all your text fields are read-only. However, Acrobat is so buggy in that respects, it does not get it properly. The workaround here is to use button fields instead of text fields, if you have areas to cover up. The big advantage of the button fields is also that they can be added without needing to switch to the other annoyance in Acrobat, the forms edit mode. Buttons can be added in normal operation mode (if you have the keyboard accelerator keys active, you would press F (or Shift-F) to get to that tool.

The "tolerance level" for buttons is higher, and it may need several hundred buttons to make the message bar appear.

Hope this can help.

Max Wyss.

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2011-09-18 02:21:29
#2
Trial_User20
Registered: Sep 5 2011
Posts: 22
maxwyss wrote:
You touch one of the sore spots with Acrobat, and you are not the first one being annoyed of that Forms Document Message Bar.......

Actually that bar appears when Acrobat/Reader discovers fillable fields. That means you should actually be able to make it not appear if you make sure all your text fields are read-only. However, Acrobat is so buggy in that respects, it does not get it properly. .........

Hope this can help.

Max Wyss.
I had all text fields read-only; but the Forms Document Message Bar still appears. But I was opening the document in Acrobat Pro; so I don't know whether that is why the Message Bar still appears.

Thanks for the workaround of using the button field.

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