Visually identify name of field in PDF form

Question

I know some similar issues exist (Find the field names of inputtable form fields in a PDF document?) but my question is different:

I have all the field names (in fdf file).

I wish I could visually identify directly on the PDF.

With acrobat I should be able to right click on a field and then select "display the name of the field" but I can find no such thing.

Can someone help me ?

See also: [How to view form field names in a pdf document](https://superuser.com/questions/137227/how-to-view-form-field-names-in-a-pdf-document/) — daviewales, Apr 11 '23 at 02:22

user2267379 · Answer 1 · 2016-07-08T00:53:06.983

31

Ok. I have found pdf editor where this is possible. Probably acrobat pro too...

http://www.pdfescape.com/

Right click on the field : unlock. Right click again : get properties.

edited Jul 08 '16 at 00:53

answered Jul 08 '16 at 00:14

user2267379

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Did you manage to find any other tools that display the names of the form fields inside a PDF document? – Derek Mahar Mar 29 '19 at 20:06
Very awesome Trick Thanks Man – abdelhedi hlel Dec 25 '20 at 10:13
1

I don't see unlock, not working for me – Vito Gentile Dec 14 '22 at 10:46
1

This worked a year ago. I've come back to this website and it seems like their site has changed and this is no longer possible. – anztenney Jan 04 '23 at 20:23

Bastien Jansen · Answer 2 · 2020-01-05T08:15:37.907

8

If you're using Apache PDFBox to fill the form automatically, you can use it to fill all text fields with their name:

final PDDocument document = PDDocument.load(in);
final PDAcroForm acroForm = document.getDocumentCatalog().getAcroForm();
final Iterator<PDField> it = acroForm.getFieldIterator();

for (PDField f : acroForm.getFields()) {
    System.out.println(f.toString());

    if (f instanceof PDTextField) {
        f.setValue(f.getFullyQualifiedName());
    }
};

document.save(...);

When you open the generated PDF, you'll be able to identify each field immediately like you asked.

edited Jan 05 '20 at 08:15

answered Jan 04 '20 at 10:01

Bastien Jansen

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How does this ***Visually** identify name of field in PDF form*? Which is what the OP asked for after all... – mkl Jan 04 '20 at 17:21
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Well when you open the output PDF, every text field is filled with its name, so just by looking at a field you can see (and copy) its name. – Bastien Jansen Jan 05 '20 at 08:13
Arg, right, sorry, I missed your actual proposal. You're right, that indeed is a way. There are some forms and fields it won't for (check boxes, too small fields, forms with javascript clearing fields on view start,...) but for many it will. – mkl Jan 05 '20 at 09:21
I am not too familiar with java, could you show how to get this result? – Nivatius May 12 '20 at 18:56

Sumit Wadhwa · Answer 3 · 2021-10-03T06:08:36.263

3

There's a free tool that does this job quite well.

sudo apt install pdftk

You can use pdftk's dump_data_fields to get all fields like this:

pdftk sample.pdf dump_data_fields output fields.txt

Dump would look something like this:

FieldType: Text
FieldName: CRIssue
FieldFlags: 8388608
FieldValue: Issue with something ---- if it is filled
FieldJustification: Center

If you're looking for a tool where you can load your editable pdf file, click on the input (text or checkbox) field and get the basic info like Name: https://code-industry.net/masterpdfeditor/. It's available cross-platform.

edited Oct 03 '21 at 06:08

answered Sep 24 '21 at 08:01

Sumit Wadhwa

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Yes but they are not visually located in the pdf like I asked. – user2267379 Oct 02 '21 at 18:36

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered May 30 '23 at 10:18

I found this website which will allow you to upload a pdf, visualize that pdf, click on any fillable field of this pdf, and see all the properties of that field including its name.

Here's that website: https://extract-fillable-fields.pdffiller.com/

You'll have to click on the green tabs on the right with the label EDIT FILLABLE FIELDS to see those fields details.

Visually identify name of field in PDF form

4 Answers4

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