Prepare Form tab order keeps changing!

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
September 20, 2018
5 replies
9253 views

I'm mapping a bunch of fill tabs on a form to flow as one would expect; left to right, up to down. I took hours changing the automatically generated tabs to flow the way I wanted, but after saving, closing, and opening the document the next day, the order is all screwed up again! I tried putting them back in order, saving, closing, and reopening the file once more, and it happened again. I called Adobe Support about it, but the called claimed I was the first to ever have this problem and that she'd let the developers know.

This is very frustrating. Does anybody have any idea why this might be happening?

PDF forms

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Correct answer try67

Go to Edit (or the Acrobat menu if you're on a Mac) - Preferences - Forms and tick off "Automatically adjust tab order when modifying fields".

S

Solanaclair

Participant

Hi there, I'm currently in the exact same situation as Julie was in Oct. 2020: "when I try to move only one nothing happens; it won't move at all. When I drag a group, they appear to move, but they don't stay there. I did click off the box in preferences, but that doesn't seem to help either."

Has there been any solution to this in the meantime?

J

julielarsen

Participant

I Solanaclair,

To tell the truth, I haven't had a need to do this since last year, so I can't really say. I have worked on forms, but haven't needed to move them. It sounds like the problem isn't fixed! I'm sorry I can't help. Good luck!

J

julielarsen

Participant

Hello! I'm having the same frustration! I noticed the comment about not dragging a group of fields, but my problem is that when I try to move only one nothing happens; it won't move at all. When I drag a group, they appear to move, but they don't stay there. I did click off the box in preferences, but that doesn't seem to help either. Is it just a bug and there's nothing I can do???

T

Travis5E1B

Participant

Same issue - I am only trying to reorder by dragging 1 field. Nothing happens. FRUSTRATING!!! It worked on the first page, no go on the second page.

D

denisepmyers

Participating Frequently

Having similar problem in InDesign Interactive Form

DM

Erin Raethke

Participant

Hello Denise,

It could be that you are not in Acrobat Pro DC, but are in Acrobat Reader DC?

I have included a marked up screenshot so you can see where it should be in the menu:

robertv10645127Author

Participant

Ah, gotcha. I saw that at some point, but assumed it only happened when the Prepare function auto-generated tabs for the first time. Not sure why that Adobe Support rep didn't think to mention that to me, but I'm glad somebody else did. Thanks!

robertv10645127Author

Participant

Actually, that didn't quite do the trick. I unclicked that "Automatically adjust tab order when modifying fields" option, hit OK, and went about my way editing the tab order again. Most of it is sticking whenever I reopen the file, but it's still happening somewhat. I'm starting to think this program is just buggy and inconsistent.

Also, on an unrelated topic, the "Automatically calculate field values" option in Preferences > Forms keeps on reselecting itself even when I disable it...