8 Replies Latest reply on Dec 13, 2016 4:38 PM by Joel_Geraci

bring all text objects to foreground and make transparent on all pages

sylvio33 Dec 11, 2016 7:17 AM

Hello

Is there a way to send all text object to foreground and make transparent on every page of a pdf file?

Now I do this in Illustrator page by page, but I suspect in Acrobat the same could be done in a more straightforward way.

1. Re: bring all text objects to foreground and make transparent on all pages

try67 Dec 11, 2016 8:00 AM (in response to sylvio33)

Not possible with JS.
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2. Re: bring all text objects to foreground and make transparent on all pages

sylvio33 Dec 11, 2016 2:03 PM (in response to try67)

thank you for answer. Then it looks there is no alternative for Illustrator.
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3. Re: bring all text objects to foreground and make transparent on all pages

try67 Dec 11, 2016 2:05 PM (in response to sylvio33)

Yes, that's correct. PDF files are not meant for this type of editing and Acrobat is not built for it.
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4. Re: bring all text objects to foreground and make transparent on all pages

George_Johnson Dec 11, 2016 3:18 PM (in response to sylvio33)

You can use Preflight to place all text in a layer and then hide the text layer. If that would work you can automate it with JavaScript.
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5. Re: bring all text objects to foreground and make transparent on all pages

sylvio33 Dec 13, 2016 2:51 PM (in response to George_Johnson)

Thank you for suggestion.
This is something new for me.
I have tried to run a standard profile called "Create separate layers for vector objects, images and text..." and it looks it does separate text and images, first images come and then text according to the existing order.
I wonder whether it is possible to modify profile to send text to the top layer and images to the bottom layer?
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6. Re: bring all text objects to foreground and make transparent on all pages

George_Johnson Dec 13, 2016 3:39 PM (in response to sylvio33)

You can adjust the order of layers (OCGs) by manipulating the doc.setOCGOrder method, though I'm not sure this will do exactly what you want, since OCGs don't necessarily behave like layers do in Illustrator/Photoshop/InDesign for example. You can find ore info in the Acrobat JavaScript reference.
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7. Re: bring all text objects to foreground and make transparent on all pages

Test Screen Name Dec 13, 2016 3:40 PM (in response to sylvio33)

"layers" in PDF are not like layers in Illustrator. They do not have a display order and don't paint in sequence. They are more like a label on elements and you can show/hide by label. So layers are not the way to change display order or to move to front.
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8. Re: bring all text objects to foreground and make transparent on all pages

Joel_Geraci Dec 13, 2016 4:38 PM (in response to Test Screen Name)

piling on... but hopefully for the sake of clarity.

"Layers" was an extremely unfortunate choice of terms chosen by the UI team to describe the panel that shows "Optional Content Groups" or OCGs. It will help you greatly by thinking of the content as "optional" (visible or hidden, printing or non-printing) rather than ordered.

I think there's a blog post in the difference and confusion around layers and OCGs.
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