Making objects visible, invisible, or hidden

Depending on the purpose of the form, you may want to control which objects are displayed in a PDF form when users view the form in Acrobat or Adobe Reader, or when users print the form from within Acrobat or Adobe Reader. With the various options in the Presence list in the Object palette, you can selectively make different objects in a PDF form visible, invisible, or hidden when the form is viewed on-screen or printed from within Acrobat or Adobe Reader. You can also specify that an object only print when the form is printed on the front or both sides of the printed page.

Keep in mind the following factors when applying presence options to objects:

• The Invisible and Hidden options are unavailable for groups, content areas, master pages, page sets, and subform sets.

• The presence option you apply to container objects such as subforms overrides the presence option applied to each contained object. For example, if you apply the Visible (Print Only) option to a subform set, the subform and the collected objects will not appear on-screen but will appear in the printed form, regardless of the presence setting of the individual objects.

• If you want to print a form in Acrobat or Adobe Reader, do not apply the Visible (Screen Only) option to any content area objects that contain objects you want to display in the printed form. When you apply the Visible (Screen Only) option to a content area object, the objects within the content area are only displayed onscreen and do not appear in the printed form. A warning marker appears in the upper-right corner of the master page when a content area or master page object is not present in both the screen and the print views. If you want to display one set of objects when a form is printed and another when the form is viewed onscreen, you can create one master page with two content area objects, one for each set of objects. You apply the Visible (Print Only) option to one content area object, and the Visible (Print Only) option to the other.

• When you apply the Visible (Print Only) option to an object, the object will appear in the Design View and Master Page tabs but will not appear in the Preview PDF tab.

The following list describes some of the ways you can use the presence options:

Visible

The object is visible on-screen, visible in the printed form (when printed from within Acrobat, Adobe Reader, or the server), and occupies space in the form layout. For example, if you want the form to look the same on-screen and in print, you can apply the Visible option to all of the objects in the form. Visible is the default presence setting for all objects.

Visible (Screen Only)

The object is visible on-screen, not visible in the printed form if printed from within Acrobat or Adobe Reader, and occupies space in the form layout. The object is visible in the printed form if printed from the server. For example, if you have a form that users will fill, submit online, and then print, you can apply the Visible (Screen Only) option to Print and Submit buttons so that the buttons are visible on-screen but not visible in the printed form.

Visible (Print Only)

The object is not visible on-screen, visible in the printed form if printed from within Acrobat or Adobe Reader, and occupies space in the form layout. The object is visible in the printed form if printed from the server. For example, if you need to include some instructional text in the printed form that is not required on-screen, such as mailing instructions, you can apply the Visible (Print Only) option to Text Field objects that contain the instructions so that the text is visible in the printed form but not visible on-screen.

Invisible

The object is not visible on-screen, not visible in the printed form, and occupies space in the form layout. For example, if you want an area in a form to remain invisible until a user selects a certain option, such as the section for payment-type information in a billing form, you can apply the Invisible option to the text field objects used for gathering credit card information so that they remain invisible until the user selects a Radio button that indicates the credit card type.

Hidden (Exclude from Layout)

The object is not visible on-screen, not visible in the printed form, and does not occupy any space in the form layout. For example, if you want a section in a form to remain hidden until a user selects a certain option and to not occupy space in the form layout when the section is hidden, you can apply the Hidden (Exclude from Layout] option to the subform that contains the various objects in the section so that the form layout adjusts as needed.

Note: The Hidden (Exclude from Layout) option works as described only when you apply this option to objects that are placed within a subform that is set to Flowed.

One-sided Printing Only

The object is visible on-screen, visible on the front side of each printed page of the form (when printed from within Acrobat, Adobe Reader, or the server), and occupies space in the form layout. For example, to have the page number appear at the lower-right of the pages, apply the One-sided Printing Only option to the page number object.

Two-sided Printing Only

The object is visible on-screen, visible on the both sides of each printed page of the form (when printed from within Acrobat, Adobe Reader, or the server), and occupies space in the form layout. For example, to have the page number appear at the lower-right of each odd-numbered printed page and at the lower-left of each even numbered printed page when double-sided printing, you must create two master pages. In the first master page, you place the page number object at the lower-right and apply the Visible option. In the second master page, you create two page number fields. Place one at the lower-left and apply the Two-sided Printing Only option; place the other at the lower-right and apply the One-sided Printing Only option.

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