Copy an Acrobat form field

You can create copies of a form field on a single page of a PDF form and you can copy a form field and paste it onto other pages. When you create duplicate form fields, replicas of the original field are added to one or more other pages, always in the same position on each page as the original. Both copies and duplicates can be dragged to different locations on a page, but not from one page to another.

Both copies and duplicates are created with the same name as the original form field, but with a number appended. All form fields with the same basic name share the same user data and action properties. Consequently, when a user adds or edits a response to any one of the copies or duplicates, that response appears in all fields with the same basic name.

If you change the properties of any one of multiple versions of a form field that have the same basic name—such as the appearance or behavior options for the selected form field—those changes affect only that copy of the form field. The exception is when you change an Actions listing if the trigger isn’t a mouse action.

If you want to prevent a duplicated or copied form field from reacting in unison with the original field to user-entered responses, change the name of the new form field using the General tab in form field Properties dialog box.

Create a copy of a form field

Select the form field, and do one of the following:

To copy the form field to the center of the current view, choose Edit > Copy, and then choose Edit > Paste.
To copy the form field and move it to another location on the page, Ctrl-drag/Option-drag it.

To constrain the vertical or horizontal movement as you drag, press Shift.

Create multiple copies of a form field on a page

Do one of the following:
- Select the form field and choose Forms > Edit Fields > Place Multiple Fields.
- Right-click/Control-click the form field and choose Create Multiple Copies.
In the Create Multiple Copies Of Fields dialog box, select Preview, and move the dialog box as needed so that you can see the original field and the copies on the form page.
Make the selections you want to apply:
- To change the number of copies being created, enter different values in the Copy Selected Fields Down and Copy Selected Fields Across options.
- To change the dimensions of the original field and all the copies, enter different values in the Change Width and Change Height options.
- To move the original field and all the copies, click the Up, Down, Left, and Right buttons.

Duplicate a form field across multiple pages

Select the form field that you want to duplicate.
Choose Forms > Edit Fields > Duplicate.

Note: The Duplicate command isn’t available for forms with only one page.
Do one of the following:
- To duplicate the form field on every page in the form, select All, and click OK.
- To duplicate the form field on a limited range of pages, click the From button, and type the start and ending pages on which you want the form field to appear.
  Note: Including or not including the page on which the form field originally appears doesn’t affect the duplication process. Including that page won’t create a second copy on top of the original one, and not including it won’t remove the original form field.