Font Size for special form

[Sandy_Foster@adobeforums.com]

I have a .pdf document that is used for Optical Character Recognition. The form has a text box for each character of a word. The .pdf is designed to be printed off and completed using hand written text.

I would like to make this a fillable form using the text field tool but not loose the text boxes. The text boxes are required for accurate recognition. The problem is the computer print has to land exactly inside the character boxes. I can create a text field for each text box but to complete the word ADOBE, the user has to type A then tab, type D then tab, type O then tab, etc.

The other option I have tried is to try to find a size and font that will fit into the text boxes. I haven't been able to do this because the width of the letters are not the same. (example: D is wider than I).

Any ideas on font size or being able to not have to tab? Any ideas or help is appreciated. Thanks!

Sandy

[W_T_Allen@adobeforums.com]

Do a search on this forum, this has been covered several times, including within the last week or so.

Look for the word "comb."

[George_Johnson@adobeforums.com]

What you're describing is known as a "comb" field. Acrobat 6 allows you to specify a text field as a comb, but implemented it in a way that is not backwards compatible. If you need it to work with previous versions of Acrobat (Reader), you can do something like what is demonstrated with: <http://www.peakforms.com/pdfs/comb_test2.pdf>

Last week there was a bit of a discussion here on the JavaScript behind this demo, which you should be able to find with a search.

George

[Sandy_Foster@adobeforums.com]

Thanks for the reply and this is what I was looking for. I looked at the java script example but am more interested in the "comb field". I have 6.0 professional and can't find the "comb field" that was referenced in a previous post. Can you give me steps to create a comb field?

Thanks,
Sandy

[W_T_Allen@adobeforums.com]

A comb field is done with JavaScript.

[George_Johnson@adobeforums.com]

When you create a text field, go to the "Options" tab and select "Comb of" and enter the number of characters to use. Note that this option will be greyed-out if any other options are selected (e.g., Check spelling, Scroll long text, Password, etc.)

George

[Fr._Watson@adobeforums.com]

The other option I have tried is to try to find a size and font that will
fit into the text boxes. I haven't been able to do this because the width
of the letters are not the same. (example: D is wider than I).




(A mono-space font like Courier would possibly do for this option, though a little experimentation to find the right point size for the Courier would be necessary.)