[2024] Tools Compatibility with Acrobat DC

All the tools on the site have been tested and are compatible with the current version of Acrobat (or Reader) DC, unless otherwise mentioned in the post itself, as of 01 July 2024.

Acrobat/Reader -- Auto Full Save (FREE)

This tool comes to replace the "Auto Save" function in Adobe Acrobat or Reader. Unlike that function, which generates temporary save files that can't be directly opened, this tool will perform a full automatic save of the current file each X amount of time (specified by the user).

Note that only the current file will be saved, though, and that the tool will stop working when all files are closed. Due to these limitations I'm offering it for free!

How to use it:

After installing the script open a file and then go to Tools - Add-On Tools ad you'll see these two buttons:

 Clicking the first button ("Start Full Auto Save") will prompt you to enter the time in minutes between each save:

This can also be a fraction, for example, entering "0.1" will cause the file to save every 6 seconds.

Once you've done that the currently viewed file will be automatically saved at those intervals.

If the file has never been saved before (for example, if it's a temporary file one), you'll be first prompted to perform a Full Save on it manually. After which, the tool will be able to automatically save it.

Clicking the second button ("Stop Auto Full Save") will stop the Full Auto Save from running any further.

The script can be downloaded from here, and as always it comes with installation instructions.
If you find this tool useful and would like to donate, it's always appreciated!

Acrobat/Reader -- Split Pencil Gestures

 

Direct purchase using PayPal ($20 only per license)!

This tool is a solution to a common issue I've heard people bringing up, where they use the Pencil commenting tool in Adobe Acrobat or Reader and all the lines ("gestures") they draw are bundled under a single comment, making it difficult to edit them.

Here's how it looks like when you add three separate lines to a page one after another:

The result is a single comment (as can be seen from the Comments Panel on the right in the screenshot above), with all three lines merged into a single object.

To split them up all you need to do is run the script from the Tools panel and it will process either all of the Pencil comments in the file automatically, or just those that are currently selected:

The result is three separate comments, with identical properties to the original one:

Compatibility Note: This tool is compatible and tested with all versions of Adobe Acrobat and Reader, from version 8 and higher, including DC.

 
For more information about this tool, you can contact me directly.

Acrobat/Reader -- Convert Underscores to Text Fields

Direct purchase using PayPal ($40 only per license)!

This tool is a companion to my Convert Wingdings Characters to Check-Boxes or Radio-Buttons tool, only this one identifies sequences of two or more underscore ("_") character in a file (using any font) and places text fields on top of them, with 100% accuracy.

Each text field it adds has a unique name, so there are no duplicates.

Using this tool is easy. In the form layout stage (using Word, for example), simply add a sequence of underscore characters, without any spaces between them, at the desired width for the fields.
Here's an example file I created:

Then convert your file to PDF and run the script on it from within Acrobat (can be seen on the right in this screenshot):

It picks up the sequences of underscores and adds text fields above them:

As can be seem , each field has a unique name:

This tool can even be used in the free Adobe Reader (version XI or higher)!

For more information about this tool, you can contact me directly.

Acrobat/Reader -- Close All Files With or Without Saving (FREE)

Update (02/03/2020): You can now select whether or not to save the files when closing them.

With the move to the new user interface in Acrobat and Reader X, there's no option to quickly close all the open files without saving them, which is why I'm offering a small script that does just that, for FREE!

This script will add a new menu item under the Window menu, called "Close All", which will simply close all the currently open documents in the application when clicked.

The script can be downloaded from here, and as always it comes with installation instructions.
If you find this tool useful and would like to donate, it's always appreciated!

Acrobat -- Export Bookmarks Structure (to PDF/TXT), including page numbers

  Direct purchase using PayPal ($60 per license)!
Update (13/02/2020): Now available is a free demo version for this tool, that will export up to three bookmarks and down to three levels deep.

This script will create an independent TXT or PDF file with the summary of the entire bookmarks structure, properly indented and formatted according to the original structure.
It is also possible to add the page number to which each bookmark points to, creating a sort of Table Of Contents.

For example:

The source file:

(click to enlarge)

The result PDF:

(click to enlarge)

The result TXT:

(click to enlarge)

If you have any questions regarding this tool, you can contact me directly.

Acrobat -- Search & Replace Text in Comments

Direct purchase using PayPal ($25 only)!
Similar to my Search & Replace Text in Bookmarks and Search & Replace Text in Form Fields scripts, you can use this new script to search and replace the text in all the comments in a single file, and if you have Acrobat Pro you can run this as an Action (AKA Batch Sequence) on multiple files, all for the low price of just $25!

Special offer: You can now get all three "Search & Replace Text" fields (for bookmarks, form fields and comments) for just $60, instead of $75! They can be purchased as a pack here.

IMPORTANT: This tool does not edit the actual static text of a PDF file, only text that is a part of a comment!

Using this script is very easy. You just enter the search term and the replace term:

And all of the matching text in your comments is edited.

Before:

After:

On top of that, you can even use some basic Regular Expression commands, like \d for a digit, \s for white-spaces, $ as the beginning of the string and ^ for the end of it, etc.

If you have any questions regarding this tool, you can contact me directly.

Acrobat / Reader -- Quick Save (FREE)

Want to save your PDF files in Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Acrobat Reader with a single click, no dialogs or confirmations or anything like that? Now you can, using this FREE tool I've developed.

Simply download it from here, follow the instructions on how to install it and it will add a new menu item to the application's File menu that allows you to save it quickly:

 If you're on a Windows machine you can access it using the following keyboard shortcut: Alt+F, Q.

Acrobat -- Extract Lowest-Level Bookmarks

Direct purchase using PayPal ($40 per license)!
Update (09/08/2019): Now available is a free demo version of this tool, which will extract the first 3 bookmarks from the file.

This script is similar to my Extract Chapters by Bookmarks script, only it extracts the pages that belong to the lowest-level bookmarks instead of the highest-level ones (the "chapters").
This is useful if you want to split your document into small, usable files based on your bookmarks structure.

So, for example, all of the highlighted bookmarks in this tree will be extracted as new files:

For more information about this tool, you can contact me directly.

Acrobat -- Rename Duplicate Fields to Unique Fields

Direct purchase using PayPal ($50 only per license)!

Warning: Selecting fields from a list does NOT work in Acrobat DC due to a bug in the application itself, but the option to automatically rename all duplicate fields will work.

Update (07/08/2019): Added some screenshots of the tool in action.
Also, a warning in advance: Only the option to rename all (duplicate) fields automatically will work in Acrobat DC, due to a bug in that application that prevents the individual fields selection from functioning correctly.

When you use the built-in Duplicate Field command in Acrobat, or even when you just copy & paste a field in your PDF file, the result is a copy of the original, meaning that any changes made to any of the copies will also occur in all of the other ones. This can be useful, but sometimes you want each field to function on its own.
Until now you had to manually rename your duplicated fields in order to achieve this, but this script will do that automatically for you.

New Feature: The script will now maintain the groups of radio-buttons or check-boxes when renaming the fields, including the export values of each widget.
In addition, the script now allows you to easily select multiple fields for renaming, instead of doing it one-by-one.

The tool in action (click to enlarge all images):

The original file with the duplicate fields and the tool's button on the right

Clicking the button displays a pop-up menu with several options. We select to rename all fields.

The resulting file: The duplicated fields have been renamed

Important: When you use this script the renamed fields lost all format/validation/calculation settings that are attached to them.

For more information about this tool, you can contact me directly.

Acrobat -- Scale PDF Pages

Direct purchase using PayPal ($60 only per license)!
Update (06/03/2019): The tool now includes an option to select the page orientation (ie, Portrait or Landscape) in addition to size.

ALSO, there's now a free demo version of this tool available, which will only convert one page in the file, to either A3 or A4.

Update (23/09/2018): Now there's a version of this tool available that allows you to scale PDF pages in a non-proportional way. It can be purchased here.

Update (02/07/2015): Now there's a new feature to this tool that lets you scale to one of several standard page sizes: A4, A3, A2, Letter, Ledger or Tabloid.And if you need any other standard size let me know and I'll add it!
The scaling to these sizes preserves the original proportions of the pages, so it adds white space around them instead of distorting them.
The dialog for this new feature looks like this:

The tool's standard dialog

Using this new tool you can scale your PDF pages to a new size of your choice, while maintaining the original aspect ratio of the pages, as well as any objects located in them, such as form fields, links or annotations (including stamps).

The script allows you to select which pages to scale, and offers two scaling options:

• To a certain percentage of the original size
• To a fixed size, specified by you, using one of the following units:
• Points
• Inches
• Millimeters

When you run the script (from the Scale Pages button it adds to the Tools menu on the right) it looks like this:

(click to enlarge)

In this option we select to scale the current page to 50% of the original size. The result can be seen below (click all images to enlarge them). Notice the zoom is the same as before, and the actual page size can be seen on the bottom-left corner of the window.

(click to enlarge)

Alternatively, we can also scale the pages in the file to a fixed size, 100 mm in width in this instance:

(click to enlarge)

And the result (again in the same zoom factor):

(click to enlarge)

 Using this file we can also see that the meta-objects on the page have been scaled down. This is the same page magnified to 250% zoom, allowing us to see the scaled link (bottom left corner), form field (top left corner, called "Button1"), and Square annotation (bottom right corner):

(click to enlarge)

This handy tool can be yours for just $60 per license! You can purchase it directly via PayPal using the "Buy Now" button at the top of this post.


If you have any questions about this tool, you can contact me directly.

Acrobat/Reader -- Show or Hide All Layers (FREE)

Another free tool to make your work with PDF files easier, this time relating to working with Layers.
This tool will add two buttons to the application which will cause all the layers in the file to become visible or hidden with a single click.

You can get the tool here.

Acrobat/Reader DC -- Remove Duplicate Comments

A bug in Acrobat and Reader DC can sometime cause a comment to be added twice, even when you only do so once. This tool will remove all of these "duplicate" comments from your file with a single click.
Be aware, though, that this process is not reversible, so make sure to only save the file after making sure that only duplicate comments have been removed, or save it under a new name, just in case.

The tool can be downloaded for free here.

Acrobat / Reader 2019 -- Quick File Send Button (FREE)

DOWNLOAD HERE

Many people are complaining about the new Share panel in Adobe Acrobat (and Acrobat Reader) 2019 and about how it "hijacks" the "Send File" command and turned what used to be a simple process into an ordeal...  Well, now there's a solution!
With this FREE tool I've developed you can restore the option to send your files from within Acrobat or Acrobat Reader 2019 with a single click!

The current user interface has this new "Share File" button under the File menu:

Old interface - Step 1 of sending file

When you click it, the Share panel on the right opens (after a while):

Old interface - Step 2 of sending file

 And then you still need to click on Send as Attachment, select your mail application and press Continue before the actual email is generated:

Old interface - Step 3 of sending file

A long and annoying process.

Well, after you install this script (detailed instructions are provided with it, of course), the old "Share File" item is replaced by my "Quick Send" item, which will create a new empty email with the current file attached to it the moment you click it (there might be some confirmation dialogs the first time you use it):

New interface - ONLY step of sending file

This item can even be accessed using a simple keyboard combination: Alt+F, Q.

And if you're using Acrobat you can even add it directly to the Quick Tools toolbar, for even faster (single-click) access, as it also adds a new toolbar item under Tools - Add-On Tools!


If you have any questions regarding this tool, you can contact me directly.

Acrobat/Reader -- Comments Review Tools

Direct purchase using PayPal ($75 $30 per license)!
Special offer: $30 only per license, to help those in need of quick access to the check-marks function in Acrobat 2019.

One of the the best ways to review comments in PDF Files is by using the Check-mark functionality (the little check-box that appears at the top right-hand corner of each comment in the Comments List panel):

A checkmarked comment

Using this feature we can maintain a summary of who approved each comment in the review process, as each "checkmark" is added to the previous ones, creating a review record.
However, the user interface of Adobe Acrobat (and Reader) makes it difficult to make the most of this feature.

For starters, a user can only view their own check-marks and has no direct way of knowing if a comment was approved by others, or to automatically and easily check (or uncheck) all the comments on a certain page, or in the entire file, or those made by a specific reviewer.

All of this can be done using this new tool I've developed, especially geared to facilitate working with the Checkmark feature of the comments in these applications.

The options this tool offers are:

• Checking (or unchecking) all the comments in the file with a single click
• Checking (or unchecking) all the currently selected comments with a single click
• Checking (or unchecking) all the comments on the current page with a single click
• Checking (or unchecking) all the comments in the file who were already checked (or unchecked) by anyone else
• Checking (or unchecking) all the comments in the file who were created by a specific reviewer
• Checking (or unchecking) all the comments in the file who were created by a specific author (notice that in Acrobat these terms are used incorrectly; The author of a comment is not necessarily a reviewer, and vice versa)
• Show detailed Review History (including Marked/Unmarked state, reviewer name and latest modification date) for the selected comments/all the comments in the file/all the comments on the current page

A sample Review History output

All of these commands can be accessed either from the Tools panel or from the Edit menu, which allows using them with just the keyboard, for quick access.

The menu looks like this:

The tools panel buttons:

If you have any questions regarding this tool, you can contact me directly.

Acrobat -- Scale PDF Pages (Non-Proportionally)

Direct purchase using PayPal ($60 only per license)!

This new tool is a companion to my older Scale Pages tool, but whereas the old tool could scale pages in the same ratio as the original, this one allows you to scale your PDF pages non-proportionally, meaning they can have whatever ratio you'd like.

For example, let's take this file I created with an image:

Original PDF file with non-scaled image (see dimensions in bottom left corner)

If we click on the tool's button on the right, this dialog will appear, allowing us to select which pages to scale, and to what new size:

The script's settings dialog

We enter the new size we want the images to have:

 

And then we click OK, and the document is immediately transformed:

The scaled image, notice the new page dimensions

If we wish we can do the same, but just for some of the pages:

 The result (I zoomed out so you could see that only pages 1 and 3 were scaled, not 2):

 

As always, if you have any questions about this tool, you can contact me directly.

Acrobat -- Create Bookmarks from Titles

Direct purchase using PayPal ($75 only per license)!
Or you can buy this tool together with Create TOC from Bookmarks, for just $99 for the pair!
Another Update (12/09/2018): A free demo version of this tool is now available. It will create up to 3 titles in the first 10 pages of the file.

Another Update (30/10/2014): It's now also possible to specify the maximum font size to be used for detecting the titles in the file, as well as to remove the existing bookmarks when running the tool.

Update: The tool can now process up to 999 pages, instead of just 99... Also, a new feature has been added to it where you can select which pages to process (skipping ones that you don't want to bookmark, like the cover or index pages, for example), and also specifying the minimum font size to consider as a title. So if you know that the titles in your file are at least 10-points large, you can tell the script to ignore anything smaller than that.


This tool tries to bring order to messy PDF files by identifying the title (or heading) on each page and creating a bookmark to match it.

Many articles, manuals and books are created without a proper bookmarks structure, and sometimes even without a Table of Contents (TOC). This tool tries to fix that creating a bookmarks structure based on the most important title that appears on each page your file. If multiple pages contain the same title, only the first one will be considered, since it doesn't make sense to have identical bookmarks pointing to each page.

After the script identifies the candidate titles, it will display a set of dialogs with the text found for each page of the document. You can tick each page on or off, and even edit the text. At the end, the bookmarks you selected will be created, and will automatically point to their matching pages.

Let's look at an example: We have a file without any bookmarks in it. We run the script from the menu item it added under "Tools":

(click to enlarge)