Known Participant

Answered

Tab Order -- not maintaining order

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
June 25, 2021
3 replies
3659 views

I create detailed medical forms for my company, which require frequent updates. I name all form fields, checkboxes, and radio buttons and set the tab order. After making updates to a form, however, the tab order always re-shuffles. In particular, any radio buttons (and sometimes checkboxes and signature fields) drop to the bottom of the tab order list. Fixing the tab order after each form revision is a tediousness time suck.

Does anyone have a suggestion / plug-in to avoid this going forward? I appreciate the help!

How to

Correct answer Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com

If I were to setup the form within Acrobat, wouldn't I need to redo that work (adding form fields and/or specifying tab order) after each time I generate an updated PDF from InDesign?
By @Meredith0404

That's correct, @Meredith0404. You'd have to rebuild the form parts each time you edited the PDF Form file. There are some tricks to make it a tad easier, but it's still a lousy, time-consuming workflow.

In your InDesign layout, are you controlling your reading orders? If so, which tools and techniques are you using to do that?

Threaded text threads for the visible skeleton portion of the form
Anchoring the form fields into the threaded text frames
Controlling the stacking order in the layers panel (bottom up: bottommost item is read first).

S

SLB_2484

Participant

DE-selecting "Use Structure for Tab Order" in the PDF Export dialog box fixes the random tab jumping problem!

barbara_a7746676

Community Expert

Once you complete the form in InDesign, it would be easier to set the tab order in Acrobat. Acrobat has much more robust forms features than InDesign has.

Meredith0404Author

Known Participant

Hi Barbara -- Thanks for your response. If I were to setup the form within Acrobat, wouldn't I need to redo that work (adding form fields and/or specifying tab order) after each time I generate an updated PDF from InDesign?

(Sorry, I don't think I made the current workflow clear in my initial post: My working file is an InDesign document. All edits are made within that file. I currently setup all form fields/functions within InDesign as well. Then the final output is an exported interactive PDF.)

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.comCorrect answer

Legend

If I were to setup the form within Acrobat, wouldn't I need to redo that work (adding form fields and/or specifying tab order) after each time I generate an updated PDF from InDesign?
By @Meredith0404

That's correct, @Meredith0404. You'd have to rebuild the form parts each time you edited the PDF Form file. There are some tricks to make it a tad easier, but it's still a lousy, time-consuming workflow.

In your InDesign layout, are you controlling your reading orders? If so, which tools and techniques are you using to do that?

Threaded text threads for the visible skeleton portion of the form
Anchoring the form fields into the threaded text frames
Controlling the stacking order in the layers panel (bottom up: bottommost item is read first).

|    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |

Michael Bullo

Community Expert

Just wanted to confirm that all this is done in InDesign? Does Acrobat play a role in your process at all?

Meredith0404Author

Known Participant

That's correct Michael. I set up all form fields and the tab order within InDesign. The final output is an interactive PDF.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded