Is there an add-on feature or additional program that would allow for this feature (as was available in Live Cycle)? Or is there another form creation program that would serve as an alternative option?

I agree that Adobe needs to add "expandable" tool for formatting in the fillable forms. The multi-scroll option does not help when the viewer needs to see everything in the box. The multi-scroll function within the field is not an option when the all of the information needs to be seen.....not scrolled to see the rest of the information in the field. Has there been a response from Adobe in regards to adding an expandable function? Waiting.......

@The Dazzler: online forms are not suitable in so many cases, and are in certain aspects inferior to smart PDFs. Therefore, online forms are not really an option.

There are so many online form creation options which are better, maybe we should all just go and explore them instead.

This is SUCH an important feature to add to forms!! Currently, respondents can reply with multi line responses, but what is the point if their answer is cut off, or printed SO SMALL it is unreadable??? this is really frustrating when creating a form that needs exhaustive answers, and basic 1 line answers as well. we need to see the FULL & COMPLETE response (even if the answer box needs to expand several pages)...

@Max Wyss

I'm new to this forum and haven't yet been able to figure out how to PM you, so wanted to send a ntoe asap. I'm definitely interested in the learning the expanding text field options in acroforms if you could share. maybe you can send me a PM an I'll get a notification. Or perhaps you can share some more info? Thanks a ton!

I'm a Graphic Designer using Adobe InDesign to put together documents which will eventually have editable form fields within them once converted to a pdf. I've redesigned/rebranded loads of documents in this way, all of which require editable form fields that my colleagues need to use in other departments within the business.

So imagine their surprise when the type they are keying into the form fields I have created starts to disappear when it overflows and is replaced with a scroll bar. This simply cannot happen in our organisation as the end users need to print out these documents with the content in view at all times.

So now you can imagine my disgust at having to use Microsoft Word to recreate the documents again so they can take advantage of the expanding table/forms that it has always had.

@Gaurav Sharma the work around you mention simply isn't good enough. Set your A4 document's font size to say, 9pt for all the fields for layout consistency. But then pre-empt that another form field's text might overflow and set it to 'Auto'. If the user doesn't need all the space the font looks massive, if they use more space then the font starts to decrease. if they use even more space, then the font reduces further to an almost unreadable 5/6pt.

There is no real work around that can effectively solve this problem... apart from Word! (Yuk).

Shoot, I can't even get a scrollbar to show up. Everything is checked that should be checked, but text just disappears into oblivion if its more than the box can fit.

@Max Wyss is absolutely correct. There is no reason Adobe should not have implemented an expandable form field years ago. Text needs to stay at a readable size (as opposed to shrinking to microscopic when you type more than what fits in the static field) and needs to print in its entirety (not disappear with a scroll bar on the side). Seriously, how difficult could this be to program into Acrobat? Get on with it!

@Gaurav Sharma: With all due respect, but I have a bit of a problem with this answer.

1. XFA is pretty much dead, and should really no longer be promoted.

2. The request for automatically growing fields in Acroforms is about 20 years old!

3. Setting the font size to autoscale is indeed an option, but this really can not be honestly suggested for serious forms use, especially when paper is involved.

4. Fields with automatic font size is not what the OP requests; the OP most likely is aware of this.

5. It IS possible to make self-growing fields in Acroforms; I have implemented such things a good decade ago. However, there is a small missing link, which Adobe simply chose to not provide.

6. When filling a field without autoscroll/autosize, a marker appears when the content is bigger than can be displayed.

7. We do have the fieldFull Field Object property. The problem is that for reasons unknown and unexplicable to me, it is only available in the Keystroke event.

8. The marker mentioned in point 6 has no interface to JavaScript.

9. Which gets us to the missing link: The marker mentioned in point 6 and the fieldFull JavaScript property should be coupled. In addition to that, the fieldFull property should be available to all field events.

10. A little bit of coding on the form side, and we would have fields which can grow and shrink.

So, why has Adobe been refusing to implement this so far?? I understand, back in the XFA über Alles era, it was not suitable to do it, but but that era is long gone.

So, @Gaurav Sharma… why??

Hello,

Currently Expandable form fields can't be created using Acroforms. This is already supported in XFA forms, where there is a concept of dynamicity. In case of Acroforms, field layout/positioning/size is static.

But still you can try below workaround :
Create a text field with a multi-line property and a font size set to “auto”. This will allow the size of the font to be automatically resized to a smaller size so the text fits into the field bound.
Steps :
1.In PrepareFormApp, Right click on a text field and select Properties

2. Under Appearance tab, click on font size and select “Auto”

3. Go to Options tab and check “Multiline” checkbox.

This would be a very valuable feature in AcroForms.

I agree the create a forms function is worthless if you have a form that has comment fields. Why is this still an issue? And please make it available as part of the forms function.

👌👌👌👌👌👌👌
I agree with you

Admin, sounds like Adobe Acrobat Pro. Can you answer for that program?

@Anonymous: It is possible in Acroforms, a bit messy, and with some restrictions. Feel free to get in touch with me in private.

Hi,
I am working as fleet manager in a shipping company. I tried making pdf form with expandable text field. unfortunately it does not happen as there are no options available. the only option that i see is multi line and scroll bar. But no option for expandable text field.

It is possible to build growing (unfortunately not shrinking) text fields in PDF forms. It is, however, quite clunky, and (in the opinion of the one who has developed this feature) a bit experimental.

The main reason for this is that the trigger for the overflow indicator in the text field is not accessible using Acrobat JavaScript. I have requested this several times in the past, but it has been refused with more or less weak arguments…

It is very late that I get to this thread, agreed.

But resizable "text boxes inside Comment App" ARE NOT WHAT THE OP REQUESTS!!

The OP (and many others, over all the years) request TEXT FIELDS to grow and shrink depending on their contents.

I see the reply that expandable text field is supported ...can you provide a tutorial?? We use Acrobat to create many forms for the public, but find this option is now necessary and are researching other programs