Skip to main content
E
emccaleb
Participant
February 7, 2020
Answered

Indesign Interactive PDF not working when exporting

  • February 7, 2020
  • 5 replies
  • 24437 views

I have created an interactive PDF with buttons with the show/hide buttons function. It works in preview mode but when I export it I click on the buttons and the components I have hidden do not show up, I can click on the buttons but nothing happens. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong or where I am going wrong. 

 

[Moving from generic Start/Help forum to the specific Program forum... Mod]
[To find a forum for your program please start at https://community.adobe.com/]

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Bill Silbert

    The interactivity should be working if you are using Acrobat 9 or later. For any other PDF viewer it probably will not be. It usually is a good idea to alert people who will be viewing your interactive PDFs that they can download the free Acrobat Reader from Adobe.com.

    5 replies

    B
    bluchair
    Participant
    November 1, 2022

    i know this problem was resolved but i had a similar issue with interactive PDF's. the issue i found was that when exporting from InDesign using the PRESET export Interactive option, the interactivity would no longer function. however, if i use EXPORT and then in the dialog box that appears choose Interactive from the dropdown menu, the interactivity worked beautifully. only took me about 3 days and countless hrs of web searching to figure that one out. hope this helps someone.

     

      Derek Cross
      Community Expert
      Derek CrossCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      November 1, 2022

      The only reliable interactivity in a PDF are hyperlinks to other parts of the document or to an external website.

      B
      bluchair
      Participant
      November 1, 2022

      perhaps "reliable" is the operative word?... though i have had decent success with hyperlinks as well as form fields and buttons working as expected across mac and pc. just an FYI for the disheartened.   😄

      M
      Madeya Alsuwaidi
      Participant
      October 21, 2020

      Guys it worked for me the steps are:

      1- File

      2- Export

      3- EPUB (Fixed layout)

      4- then it's going to open in BOOKS 

      I'm using Mac and InDesign 2020

      BobLevine
      Community Expert
      BobLevineCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      October 21, 2020

      And this has what to do with PDF?

      M
      Madeya Alsuwaidi
      Participant
      October 21, 2020

      I used this way as an alternative because exporting as PDF was not moving the animation in the Indesign PDF file. However, when I exported the InDesign file as EPUB, everything worked perfectly fine.

      Bill Silbert
      Community Expert
      Bill SilbertCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      February 7, 2020

      The interactivity should be working if you are using Acrobat 9 or later. For any other PDF viewer it probably will not be. It usually is a good idea to alert people who will be viewing your interactive PDFs that they can download the free Acrobat Reader from Adobe.com.

      E
      emccalebAuthor
      Participant
      February 7, 2020

      Okay, yes this totally worked! It was opening on the default 'preview', I tried it with acrobat reader and it works! I think I will just have to let people know to open it with that instead of their desktops default preview. Thank you!!

      Bill Silbert
      Community Expert
      Bill SilbertCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 7, 2020

      Happy to help.

      Derek Cross
      Community Expert
      Derek CrossCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 7, 2020

      This feature will not work on many devices and readers, it's best to stick to simple hyperlinks with Interactive PDFs or choose another format; FXL ePub, InDesign's Publish Online or in5.

        BobLevine
        Community Expert
        BobLevineCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        February 7, 2020
        How are you viewing this PDF?
        Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
        Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices