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Participant
January 23, 2025
Question

Fillable form radio buttons that should be checkboxes

  • January 23, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 645 views

Hi, 

 

I work on many forms for a large client (of which I can't share files or work from, so please don't ask). Every time I run their new forms through Make Accessible (where it auto populates the fillable fields) its creating fillable radio buttons for all my many yes/no question checkboxes. I'm hoping there's a setting I can change?? If not, there should be. Not sure why you couldn't tell acrobat your preference or have a way of changing it later. I'm also not asking how to make them "look like a check" when you select it or how to code the name of the field between both fillable fields so it "functions" like a yes/no checkbox. I want the properties, when I select it, at the top of the properties window to say Checkbox Properties.. not Radio Button Properties. Because radio buttons you can't unselect, and checkboxes you can. I had a colleague tell me I would have to hand create the checkboxes, and even if I copy and paste at best that still means I'm renaming tons of copied and pasted fields and wasting time. 

2 replies

JR Boulay
Community Expert
Community Expert
January 24, 2025

The principle of automatic recognition is simple:
circle = radio button
square = checkbox.
You should talk to your large client about it.

Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe
Participant
January 24, 2025

The forms are designed with square checkboxes in InDesign. Not circles. So, I fail to see how Acrobat is recongizing them as radio buttons when I run it to create fillable fields before making it accessible. 

try67
Community Expert
Community Expert
January 23, 2025

There isn't such a setting, and changing form fields type is not simple. You basically have to delete them, then create new ones with the new type.

You can do that automatically using this (paid-for) tool I've developed:

https://www.try67.com/tool/acrobat-convert-form-fields-type