Applying

Adobe
actions and scripts to PDFs
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Enhance document photos Last updated on Jan 12, 2022 | Also Applies to Adobe Acrobat 2017, Adobe Acrobat 2020
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Optimizing PDFs

PDF properties and metadata

Links and a achments in PDFs Sign in to your account

About actions
PDF layers
You can cause an action to occur when a bookmark or link is clicked, or when a page is viewed. For example, you
Page thumbnails and bookmarks Sign in
can use links and bookmarks to jump to di erent locations in a document, execute commands from a menu, and
in PDFs
perform other actions. Actions are set in the Properties dialog box.
Action Wizard (Acrobat Pro) For bookmarks or links, you specify an action that occurs when the bookmark or link is clicked. For other items,
such as pages, media clips and form elds, you de ne a trigger that causes the action to occur and then de ne the
PDFs converted to web pages
action itself. You can add multiple actions to one trigger.
Se ing up PDFs for a presentation e Locked option prevents the appearance and actions associated with an object from being accidentally
changed.
PDF articles

Geospatial PDFs

Applying actions and scripts to

PDFs
Add an action to bookmarks, form elds, bu ons, or clips
Change the default font for adding 1 Do one of the following:
text
Using the Hand tool, right-click the bookmark, and choose Properties.
Delete pages from a PDF Using the Tools > Rich Media > Select Object tool, double-click the link, media clip, or form eld, and
choose Properties.
Scan and OCR

Forms 2 Click the Actions tab.

Make It Your
Combining les Own
3
From the Select Action menu, select the action type to occur, and then click Add. You can add multiple
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Sharing, its vendors
anduse cookies and similar technologies
commenting to improve
actions; actionsyour experience
execute and measure
in the order that theyyour interactions
appear with our
in the Actions list websites,
box. products and services. We also use them to provide you more relevant
information in searches and in ads on this and other sites. If that’s okay, click “Enable all". Clicking “Don’t enable” will set only cookies that are strictly necessary. You can also view our vendors and customize your
Saving
choices byand exporting
clicking PDFs
"Cookie Se ings". 4 (Optional) Select an action in the Actions tab, and use the bu ons to reorder, edit, or delete the action.

Security
Cookie Settings Don't Enable Enable all
5 Click OK to accept the actions. To close the Rich Media tool, click the cross icon at the right-end of the toolbar.

Add actions to page thumbnails

To enhance the interactive quality of a document, you can specify actions, such as changing the zoom value, to
occur when a page is opened or closed.

1 Click the Page umbnails bu on on the le .

2 Select the page thumbnail corresponding to the page, and choose Page Properties from the options menu 
.

3 Click the Actions tab.

4 From the Select Trigger menu, choose Page Open to set an action when the page opens, or choose Page
Close to set an action when the page closes.

5 Choose an action from the Select Action menu, and click Add.

6 Specify the options for the action, and click OK. e options available depend on the action selected.

7 To create a series of actions, choose another action from the menu, and click Add again. Use the Up and Down
bu ons to arrange the actions in the order you want them to occur.

Note:

If you set an action that switches to Full Screen view on Page Open or Page Close, the next time the same page opens
or closes, Full Screen view is turned on.

8 Close all opened dialog boxes, if any. Click the cross icon at the right-end of the toolbar to close the tool.

Action types
You can assign the following actions to links, bookmarks, pages, media clips, and form elds:

Execute A Menu Item Executes a speci ed menu command as the action.

Go To A 3D/Multimedia View Jumps to the speci ed 3D view.

Go To A Page View Jumps to the speci ed destination in the current document or in another document.

Import Form Data Brings in form data from another le, and places it in the active form.

Multimedia Operation (Acrobat 9 And Later) Executes a speci ed action for a multimedia object in the le (such
as playing a sound le). e multimedia object must be added to the le before you can specify an action for it.

Open A File Launches and opens a le. If you are distributing a PDF le with a link to another le, the reader
needs the native application of that linked le to open it successfully. (You may need to add opening preferences for
the target le.)

Open A Web Link Jumps to the speci ed destination on the Internet. You can use h p, p, and mailto protocols to
de ne your link.

Play A Sound Plays the speci ed sound le. e sound is embedded into the PDF document in a cross-platform
format.

Play Media (Acrobat 5 Compatible) Plays the speci ed QuickTime or AVI movie that was created as Acrobat 5-
compatible. e speci ed movie must be embedded in a PDF document.

Play Media (Acrobat 6 And Later Compatible) Plays a speci ed movie that was created as Acrobat 6-compatible.
e speci ed movie must be embedded in a PDF document.

Read An Article Follows an article thread in the active document or in another PDF document.

Reset A Form Clears previously entered data in a form. You can control the elds that are reset with the Select
Fields dialog box.

Run A JavaScript Runs the speci ed JavaScript.

Set Layer Visibility Determines which layer se ings are active. Before you add this action, specify the appropriate
layer se ings.

Show/Hide A Field Toggles between showing and hiding a eld in a PDF document. is option is especially
useful in form elds. For example, if you want an object to pop up whenever the pointer is over a bu on, you can
set an action that shows a eld on the Mouse Enter trigger and hides a eld on Mouse Exit.

Submit A Form Sends the form data to the speci ed URL.

Trigger types
Triggers determine how actions are activated in media clips, pages, and form elds. For example, you can specify a
movie or sound clip to play when a page is opened or closed. e available options depend on the speci ed page
element.

You can use the following triggers for media clips and form elds (not links or bookmarks):

Mouse Up (Acrobat Pro) When the mouse bu on is released a er a click. is is the most common bu on
trigger, because it gives the user one last chance to drag the pointer o the bu on and not activate the action.

Page Visible (media clips only) When the page containing the media clip is visible, regardless of whether it is the
current page. It’s possible for a page to be visible without being the current page, such as when a continuous page
layout displays pages side-by-side.

Page Invisible (media clips only) When the page containing the media clip is moved out of view.

Page Enter (media clips only) When the page containing the media clip becomes the current page.

Page Exit (media clips only) When a user leaves the page that contains the media clip.

Mouse Down When the mouse bu on is clicked (without being released). In most cases, Mouse Up is the
preferred trigger.

Mouse Enter When the pointer enters the eld or play area.

Mouse Exit When the pointer exits the eld or play area.

On Receive Focus (media clips only) When the link area receives focus, either through a mouse action or
tabbing.

On Lose Focus (media clips only) When the focus moves to a di erent link area.

About JavaScript in Acrobat

e JavaScript language was developed by Netscape Communications as a means to create interactive web pages
more easily. Adobe has enhanced JavaScript so that you can easily integrate this level of interactivity into your PDF
documents.

You can invoke JavaScript code using actions associated with bookmarks, links, and pages. e Set Document
Actions command lets you create document-level JavaScript actions that apply to the entire document. For
example, selecting Document Did Save runs the JavaScript a er a document is saved.

Acrobat Pro is required to use JavaScript with forms and action wizards.

In Acrobat Pro, you can also use JavaScript with PDF forms and action wizard. e most common uses for
JavaScript in forms are forma ing data, calculating data, validating data, and assigning an action. Field-level scripts
are associated with a speci c form eld or elds, such as a bu on. is type of script is executed when an event
occurs, such as a Mouse Up action.

To learn how to create JavaScript scripts, download the JavaScript manuals from the Adobe website. Developing
Acrobat®Applications Using JavaScript™ contains background information and tutorials, and the JavaScript™ for
Acrobat®API Reference contains detailed reference information. ese and other JavaScript resources are located on
the Adobe website.

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