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C
carpeannum
Participant
September 5, 2020
Answered

Rotate text in a text form frame

  • September 5, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 2019 views

I'm creating an interactive workbook in InDesign for export to PDF. The pages are in portrait orientation and most of the content is correctly oriented for this. 

 

In a few places, I am using a landscape oriented table. When I place a frame in the cells of the table, I would like the text to be rotated 90 degrees CCW, i.e., so when the user tabs through the available form fields in the table, the orientation is correct relative to the table layout. (I hope that's clear.)

 

I've tried placing the form frame and then using Transform to rotate it, but the text (when in PDF) still gets entered from left to right instead of bottom to top. So the headings of the table read from bottom to top but the users' entries read from left to right.

 

I can't find anything that addresses this specific problem, so hoping someone can help me here. Thank you.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer TᴀW

As you've discovered, you cannot rotate form fields in InDesign and have that carry through to Acrobat.

You'd need http://www.id-extras.com/products/formmagic/ for that... (free version available for short, 1-page forms)

2 replies

Michael Bullo
Community Expert
Michael BulloCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 6, 2020

Would rotating the entire page itself with the Page Tool help in any way?

C
carpeannumAuthor
Participant
September 6, 2020

Thank you.

 

It's so weird, things that seem like they should be easy are so complicated in Adobe and vice versa. 

 

No, turning the page would not help as there is portrait-oriented text on the same page. On the bright side, I figured out how to do the rotation of the frame content as a group once the PDF is created, so I guess I'll brute force it.  

 

Thank you for responding on the weekend, really appreciate it. I checked out FormMagic, and perhaps I will buy it if I do a lot more such forms.

TᴀW
TᴀWCorrect answer
Legend
September 5, 2020

As you've discovered, you cannot rotate form fields in InDesign and have that carry through to Acrobat.

You'd need http://www.id-extras.com/products/formmagic/ for that... (free version available for short, 1-page forms)

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