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# Form-Specific Object Defaults

You can override your new form defaults with form-specific default settings. These settings are entered on the Defaults tab in the property pane and are in effect for the entire form. Whenever you create or select an object on your form, the Defaults tab for that object appears in the property pane. If you select a text box, for example, and click on the Defaults tab, you will see the default properties for text boxes in the form you are working on. If you click on a data field, the Defaults tab will display the default properties for data fields. Initially, the settings will be the same as your new form defaults.

You can change your form defaults at any time during form development. The changes you make to the existing form defaults affect only new objects you create on that form. They do not affect existing objects.

There are two ways you can change form-specific defaults. You can change them by changing the values on the Defaults property page, or you may change them “by example” through the context menu. When you set defaults by example, you either create an object with the default settings you want or select an object that already has those settings. This is a good way to set defaults if you want to see what the object will look like when the defaults are applied.

To change defaults on the Defaults property page

1. Either select the tool for the object you want to change or select an object of that type on the form page.

2. Display the Defaults property page.

3. Redefine the properties you want to change on the Defaults property page. All new objects of that type will be given the new default properties.

Important:

When you change font defaults, they affect only the font set in effect for the current page. If you use different font sets for different pages, you will need to select a page that uses the font set you want to change the defaults for.

To change defaults of an object “by example”

1. Either create an object that has the property settings you want or select an object on the form page that already has these settings.

2. Right-click on the object to display the context menu:

3. Select Set as Default Attributes from the context menu. The property values of the object will be set as the defaults for all objects of that type. The settings will be placed on the Defaults tab in the property pane.

Important:

If you use different font sets for different pages and you are defining a text or data field object, be sure to choose or create your object on a page that uses the font set you want to change the defaults for.