How do I add text that always prints?

[Lee_Spector@adobeforums.com]

I frequently want to add a note to the top of a PDF generated in another application (typically a citation -- I'll be making an online version of an article that appeared in some publication and want it to ALWAYS include the citation to the original source).

I have been using the Text Box Tool to create a box with the citation, but I just discovered that these things don't print (unless one jumps through hoops). This was a complete surprise to me, and I already have several documents floating around with these "vanishing citations."

Then I discovered that if I set "Print What" to "Document and Comments" in the Print dialog the text box does indeed print (which is a little confusing, because I thought "Comments" were those pop-up things, not the text boxes... but I guess that's beside the point). So I can print a copy with the text box myself, but this does not solve the problem.

The problem is that the document, when downloaded by someone else, will still print without the citation unless THEY go out of their way to print the text box. I want the text box to become a part of the document, which will print as part of the document under normal circumstances. I don't really care what it looks like, or if it is created with the text box tool or some other tool, but I want the text to be on the page when normally printed by someone else. I had thought that perhaps if I saved a PDF from the print dialog in which I had said to print "Document and Comments" that the comments would be incorporated in a "normally print" way, but alas saving from the print dialog is disabled (it says to use "Save," which has no options related to comments).

This is pretty frustrating, as the ability to add these citations was one of the main reasons I bought Acrobat Professional -- and it seemed a steep price to pay for such a simple thing, but I needed the functionality. Now I'm not even sure if the software provides the functionality, and I've found the integrated help facility to be completely unhelpful. To continue my gripe fest, I've also found the process of trying to get an answer to this question frustrating -- unless I'm reading the web pages incorrectly there's no way to direct a question like this directly to someone at adobe without paying? Anyway, I'm hoping someone on this "user to user forum" can help.

I am using Acrobat Professional (6.0.0) under Mac OS 10.3.4 on a 17" Powerbook G4.

Thanks!

-Lee (lspector@hampshire.edu)

[MarkATS@adobeforums.com]

control-click with the text touchup tool to insert text anywhere on the page.

[Lee_Spector@adobeforums.com]

Thank you MarkATS. When I OPTION-click (not control-click) with the text touchup tool I am indeed able to insert some text, which I assume will print normally (I haven't yet checked), so that's an improvement. HOWEVER, I can't seem to set the size of the text or styles of parts of the text, both of which are necessessary for the simple task of adding a citation. It asks me for a font and an orientation (horizontal or vertical) when I do the option-click, but afterwards, when I select some of the text, the formatting icons on the Properties are greyed out (as they are when I select main body text as well... I've only seen them not greyed out when typing in a "text box"). So I can't add my citation with the name of the journal in italics. And if I fake it, by adding two pieces of text and choosing an italic font for the italic parts, I still seem to have no control over font size, whether at the time of the option-click or afterwards.

This seems like it should be a very simple thing to do... Any more advice?

Thanks, -Lee

[MarkATS@adobeforums.com]

Yeah, sorry. option-click

To set the size, control, or right-click on the text and select Properties from the context menu

[Lee_Spector@adobeforums.com]

Ah -- that works. This is extremely non-obvious, however, particularly for such a simple task. I'm fairly sure I'll be equally mystified next time I have to do it -- I better make a note of the procedure. Really cryptic interface design, IMO.

BTW I also had some other bumps along the way -- for example, I most recently tried to copy/paste text from my previous (normally non-printing) "text box" to the "Touchup Text option-click" text, and the result was that I couldn't get line breaks at all, whether by hitting return or by ctrl-click insert linebreak. When I retyped everything by hand "return" worked as expected. I won't even go into all of the time I wasted trying to get the "stamp" functionality to do something reasonable.

[MarkATS@adobeforums.com]

This is extremely non-obvious,




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