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Printing a .PDF without the background - only text

diradv
Registered: Apr 6 2009
Posts: 2

Hi, we have a .PDF where our users will enter text in a form and then print the .pdf onto preprinted stock.

What we want is for our users to be able to pull up the .pdf which looks exactly like their preprinted stock, have them be able to add text and then print but have the pdf ONLY print the text, not the background.

In other words, how do we make a pdf where there is a background but it doesn't print - only the text that is added by the user?

Thanks

My Product Information:
Acrobat Standard 9.1
Dimitri
Expert
Registered: Nov 1 2005
Posts: 1389
Hi diradv,

Do the users have Acrobat or the free Adobe Reader? If they have Acrobat (Stnd or Pro) in the Print Dialog they can select "Form Fields Only" under the Comments and Forms pull-down.

Hope this helps,

Dimitri
WindJack Solutions
www.windjack.com
www.pdfscripting.com
UVSAR
Expert
Registered: Oct 29 2008
Posts: 1357
Simplest solution from the users' viewpoint is if you create your PDF with the stock paper background in a layer, and set that layer to "never print".

Typical workflow if you're new to layers:

- Build the form as normal, without the background.
- Create a new PDF the same page size as the form, with just the paper artwork in.
- In the form PDF, open the layers panel and from the tools icon choose "import as layer".
- Browse to the stock PDF, put it in a new layer (call it "background" or something) and set it to "appear behind page".
- Once loaded, right-click the name of the layer, choose "properties".
- Set "always visible" and "never prints".