Create a Dropdown or List Box in Acrobat Pro – Instructions

How to Create a Dropdown or List Box in Acrobat Pro: Video

          This video lesson, titled “Acrobat Tutorial: Creating Drop-Down and List Boxes – Adobe Acrobat Training Course,” shows how to create a dropdown or list box in Acrobat Pro. This video is from our complete Acrobat tutorial, titled “Mastering Acrobat Made Easy.”

Overview of How to Create a Dropdown or List Box in Acrobat Pro

            Drop-down lists in Acrobat forms let users select a choice from a drop-down menu. However, they may only select one choice. Alternatively, list boxes in Acrobat forms constantly display a list of choices from which a user can select. You can change the properties of a list box in Acrobat so users can select multiple choices from a list box, if needed.

How to Add a Dropdown in Acrobat

            To add a drop-down list to a form in Acrobat, open the form in Acrobat. Then click the “Edit” command in the top bar and click the “Prepare a form” link in the Edit panel to show the “Prepare a form” panel. Click the “Drop-down list” link in the “Prepare a form” panel in Acrobat.

            Hover your mouse pointer over the location at which to add the drop-down in the PDF to show a preview of the field. Then click once to add it to the form. The “Drop-down list” tool remains enabled, so you can continue to click at different locations in the PDF page to add as many as needed. To turn off the “Drop-down list” tool, click the Select tool in the quick tools panel to switch to that tool, which is the default tool.

How to Set the Values for a Dropdown in Acrobat

            To show the properties of a drop-down list in an Acrobat form, double-click it with the Select tool to open the “Dropdown Properties” dialog box. To change the name of the drop-down list, type its name into the “Name” field on the “General” tab. To make selecting a choice from the drop-down required to submit the form, check the “Required” checkbox.

            To set the list of values from which users can select, click the “Options” tab at the top of the dialog box. Then type the first list item into the “Item” text field on this tab. Optionally, to associate an export value for this item that is something other than the “Item” field’s value, enter the desired export value into the “Export Value” field. To then add the value to the drop-down list, click the “Add” button.

            The item then appears in the “Item List” field on this tab. Repeat this process of adding list values until you enter all the items for the drop-down list into the “Item List” field. To delete an added list item, click it to select it in the “Item List” field and then click the “Delete” button.

            To change the order of the list items, click an item in the “Item List” field and then click the “Up” and “Down” buttons to the right, as needed. Finally, click the item within the “Item List” field to set as the default choice. Whichever item is selected when you close the dialog box becomes the default choice for this drop-down.

            To alphabetize the item list, check the “Sort items” checkbox on this tab. To let users enter custom text into this drop-down, check the “Allow user to enter custom text” checkbox. If unchecked, which is the default, users instead select an item from the drop-down list. If checked, to also check the spelling of list item values users enter, check the “Check spelling” checkbox.

            To save a selected drop-down value as soon as the user selects it, check the “Commit selected value immediately” checkbox. Otherwise, the value is committed when the user exits the drop-down field. When finished, click the “Close” button in the “Dropdown Properties” dialog box.

How to Add a List Box in Acrobat

            Alternatively, to add a list box to a form in Acrobat, click the “List box” link in the “Prepare a form” panel in Acrobat. Hover your mouse pointer over the location at which to add the list box in the PDF to show a preview of the field. Then click once to add it to the form.

            The “List box” tool remains enabled, so you can continue to click at different locations in the PDF page to add as many as needed. To turn off the “List box” tool, click the Select tool in the quick tools panel to switch to that tool, which is the default tool.

How to Set the Properties of a List Box in Acrobat

            To show the properties of a list box in an Acrobat form, double-click it with the Select tool to open the “List Box Properties” dialog box. Then set its name and optional required value on the “General” tab, just like a drop-down. Then click to the “Options” tab and set its list values, just like you set them for drop-downs, as previously shown. You have the same “Sort items” and “Commit selected value immediately” checkboxes for list boxes as for drop-downs.

            For list boxes only, however, you can let a user select multiple choices, if needed. To let form users select more than one choice from a list box in an Acrobat form, check the “Multiple selection” checkbox. To set the list box values, click the “Close” button in the “List Box Properties” dialog box.