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Participant
July 31, 2024
Question

Is it possible to add buttons and forms content into table cells?

  • July 31, 2024
  • 4 replies
  • 743 views

Hi, I'm creating an order form that needs to have multiple options for configuring items. You can see the table I've set up in the attached file.

 

I'd like to add dropdowns to some of these cells and text fields to others, but when I open the Buttons and Forms panel, I can't instert things into the table cells, it just wants to make the entire text box a button or form.

 

Acrobat is pretty dodgy about getting the forms right, so I was hoping to do it all in Indesign.

Does anyone have experience with something like this? Or an easier way to do it?

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4 replies

Frans v.d. Geest
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 31, 2024

Buttons: don't!;

Forms in a table: yes, possible (even will be accessible for WCAG!) through anchoring. 
Forms will work fine in iPDF(!) buttons will not; forms will not work in Publish online.

BobLevine
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 31, 2024

I'm going to throw cold water on this before you spend hours or days on it. You'll never get what you want here in a PDF and Publish Online does not support forms.

 

My standing advice is to create a from on your website and be done with it.

Community Expert
July 31, 2024

Hi @Trey138 ,

you could try two things with forms and table cells, I think, but did not test with current versions of InDesign:

[1] Anchor form fields like buttons to text cells.

[2] Convert a text cell to a graphic cell and convert its contents, an empty graphic frame, to a form field like a button.

But I do not think, that you can use live, editable text inside a graphic cell. The developers made this unavailable because of a severe bug with graphic cells that could crash InDesign. This bug was never fixed and dates back some years…

 

But I have no idea if the form fields will work as expected when exported to PDF.

Try that as Derek suggested with Publish Online.

 

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

Derek Cross
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 31, 2024

Best not to use PDF for this as, apart from other issues,  you can't control the various PDF reader that users may use that aren't compatible. Have a look instead  at InDesign's Publish Online facility,, which might be able to offer the features you need. And, as the output is HTML5, the documents can be read on PCs, Macs, Tablets and Smart Phones with a compatible browser .

Trey138Author
Participant
July 31, 2024

That's a good idea, Derek, thanks!

 

Do you know if it's possible to add buttons and form content into the cells in my table?

Derek Cross
Community Expert
Community Expert
July 31, 2024

I'm not sure whether you can successfully add buttons, etc, to table cells, but it's easy enough to test on a quick mock-up (I've successfully used hyperlinks in cells to external websites).