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Ryan@BlockClub
Ryan@BlockClub
Participant
October 12, 2021
Question

Button States Suddenly Stopped Working In Interactive PDF

  • October 12, 2021
  • 3 replies
  • 756 views

Hello. I am using InDesign 2021 to design a large interactive document, ultimately saved as a PDF and opened with Acrobat Reader. I began the process and had great success with multi-state buttons—hover and click states WERE working just fine when exported to PDF and viewed in Acrobat Pro DC. After a few iterations with this document, the button state functionality just stopped working in the PDFs. The button actions still work and I still get the hand pointer when I mouse over the buttons, but the rollover states no longer display. What is happening is, the first time I open the document, the very first button I roll over will display the hover state and then it seems to freeze and no more hover states are displayed until I close and reopen the document—then again the first one will work and then no more. I've read several posts here with people advising that interactive functionality doesn't work across different PDF readers etc.. But I guess I'm hoping there's a fix here since it was working great at one point! Thanks in advance for any advice. 

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    3 replies

    Derek Cross
    Community Expert
    Derek CrossCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 20, 2021

    Now that Flash is obsolete some features in Interactive PDFs have changed – you can have a word or words or an image (such as a button shape) as a document hyperlink to say another page in the document, or to an external website.
    Some devices, for example, iPads, don't have rollover capability – only click – you should avoid multi-action buttons like On Click, On Roll Over, etc.  Multi-state objects (MSO) don’t work at all in Interactive PDFs.

     

    .
    .:karen:.
    Participating Frequently
    October 20, 2021

    Hey there... I'm now having the same issue, thus me coming to the forum to look for answers. 


    I have a feeling that this probably due to some recent update. Mine worked fine as of a day or two ago. After a restart yesterday, the appearance of my Acrobat Pro has changed and the interactivity on files, which worked perfectly earlier in the year, no longer work. Links, yes. Button appearance interactivity, no. 

    And it looks like the last update was the same day you posted this issue:

    Oct 12, 2021DC Oct 2021 (21.007.20099)ContinuousLatest Release: This update provides security mitigations and bug fixes.
    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    BobLevineCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 20, 2021
    Then I suggest posting in the Acrobat forum. This isn't an InDesign issue.
    .
    .:karen:.
    Participating Frequently
    October 20, 2021

    Good call. Didn't realize the original post wasn't in that forum.

    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    BobLevineCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 13, 2021
    Well for starters, hover / mouseover effects don't work at all on mobile. They don't work in most third-party readers and they're wonky as hell in Acrobat if you use too many of them.

    You already know your answer so I'm sorry, but nothing's changed. I would never take a job like this.
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