This section provides instructions for preparing your PDF documents as templates for personalization online. You can download the PDFlib plugin here.
This guide is split into three parts:
- Getting Started with PDFlib Blocks (this page) — plugin menu, creating blocks, and steps common to every block type
- PDFlib Text Blocks — settings specific to Textline and Multiline blocks
- PDFlib Image Blocks — settings specific to Image blocks
¶ PDFlib Blocks Menu
Once the PDFlib Blocks plugin has been installed, open Acrobat. To the right of the Help menu, you should now see a menu called PDFlib Blocks with dropdown options. If this menu appears, the plugin has been installed properly. You can now open any PDF file you would like to make a template from. If you do not see this menu in Acrobat, your plugin is not properly installed.
¶ Creating Blocks with the PDFlib Blocks Tool
In order to begin creating blocks on your template, you will need to select the PDFlib Blocks Tool from the PDFlib Blocks menu. Once the tool is activated, a check mark will appear next to it in the menu and your cursor will appear as a crosshair. Click and drag to define an area that will contain variable data.
¶ PDFlib Dialog Box
Once you've defined the area to contain variable data, the PDFlib blocks dialog box opens.
| Block Name | By default, the Block Name is set to "Block_0" for the first block. The number after the underscore will ascend upon drawing further blocks (next block will be "Block_1"). Users will not see the Block Name when personalizing their template. This number does however determine layer order of blocks. Block_0 will always be placed behind Block_1, Block_2, etc. You can change the number of the block, but the format must remain Block_#, Block_##, or Block_#.#. Refrain from using special characters (like /) here. |
| Type | Textline: This will create a single-line text block. Textflow: This will create a multi-line text block. This option should also be used for single-line text blocks that will have a Style assigned to them in the Designer Admin. Image: This will create an image block where user can either upload their own image or choose an image from a gallery created by admin. Graphics: This option is not supported. PDF: This option is not supported. |
| Description | This should be a clear description of what should be contained in the block. Users will see this during personalization as long as the block does not have a Style assigned. If block has a Style assigned, users will see the labels contained within the Style instead. |
The settings available after this point depend on which Type you chose — see PDFlib Text Blocks for Textline/Textflow, or PDFlib Image Blocks for Image.
For the full list of dialog box options (Appearance, Object Fitting, Default Contents, and more), see the complete PDFlib Dialog Box reference.
¶ Editing Blocks: Move, Resize, Copy, Paste, and Import
Moving Blocks: Move blocks with your mouse or the arrows on your keyboard. You can also move a block by changing the coordinates in the Rect (inches) option under Properties Group: Rectangle.
Resizing Blocks: Resize blocks with your mouse or change the coordinates in the Rect (inches) option under Properties Group: Rectangle to reflect the desired size.
Copying and Pasting Blocks: Copy and paste blocks by right clicking on the block, selecting Edit > Copy and then right clicking again and choosing Edit > Paste. You can also select Edit > Copy/Edit > Paste from the Acrobat menu.
Importing Blocks: You can import blocks from another document and the blocks, along with their attributes, will be placed in the current PDF. To do this, go to PDFlib Blocks > Import and Export > Import. Select the PDF that includes the blocks that you wish to import and click OK. Note: The source document cannot be currently open in Acrobat to perform this function.
¶ Removing Existing Text in PDF
In those areas where you have created a new PDFlib block, the Designer will place new text or images into the PDF. It is important to remember that you will need to remove any text that is built-in to the original PDF. If not, the Designer will place the text user types on top of the original text in the PDF.
You can remove this native content by either using the TouchUp Text Tool or the TouchUp Object Tool in Acrobat. Both of these are found under Tools > Advanced Editing.
In Acrobat X the TouchUp Text Tool is called Edit Document Text and it can be found under Tools > Content > Edit Document Text. In Acrobat X the TouchUp Object Tool is called Edit Object and it can be found under Tools > Content > Edit Object Tool.
In Acrobat XI you can try the Edit Text & Images Tool, found under Tools > Content Editing > Edit Text & Images.
In Acrobat DC, you must use the "Edit PDF" tool in the right-hand column. This tutorial provides a good illustration.
Once you have removed the original content from the PDF, you will need to enable the PDFlib Block Tool to see the blocks that are in the document. Text blocks are represented by a pink tag. Image blocks are represented by a green tag. This file is now ready for upload.
