Problem with Radio Buttons for printable-only PDF form created from non-form PDF.
I'm using Acrobat DC. I have a reasonably simple one page PDF document that was intended to be printed out, then its many blanks be filled out by hand, then that document would be signed, then scanned to PDF, with the resultant completed & signed PDF file to be emailed back to the sender.
This document requests a lot of personal information and has a lot of "Yes/No" checkboxes (maybe 10 pairs) [along with one series of 5 checkboxes, any number of which may be chosen]. So, rather than forcing someone to interpret my sloppy handwriting, I thought it would be better to first convert that PDF to a PDF form so I can type in the required information before printing the document, then I could sign it, scan it to a new PDF file, then email it back to the sender.
Acrobat's Prepare Form facility did a great job . . . EXCEPT regarding the checkboxes buttons. It created text fields for every blank on the original that required entry of text, but apparently it doesn't "see" checkboxes, because it missed every single instance of the many checkbox squares on that original form. So I knew I'd need to add those myself and I did so, but I haven't been able to figure out how to make them work as they should. Here's what I did:
While in the Prepare Form facility, at the first location of an intended checkbox, I created a new field as a "Radio Button" type, then copied it into every place where a checkbox square was on the original document. (I assumed that would work at least for all the "Yes/No" pairs and maybe also for the "choose just 1 out of 5" fields, as well.) Then, I edited the Properties of all of those radio button fields: For each of the "Yes/No" radio button pairs, I gave each button in the same pair the same basic name but differentiated the two by adding "Yes" or "No" at the end of that name (e.g., for the question "Married?", I named the first button "Married-Yes" and the second "Married-No"; & for the question "Can you attend the meeting on June 1, 2022?", I named the first button "Attend Meeting-Yes" and the second "Attend Meeting-No"). Then, I closed out of the "Prepare Form" facility and tested it.
It didn't work as I'd expected: For any pair, clicking on "No" marked the "No" box, but if I then also clicked on "Yes", the "Yes" box would be marked AND the "No" box remained marked, too. Worse, I then couldn't "unmark" either of those boxes by clicking on it again, which was how I had been expecting a pair of Radio Button fields to work.
Guessing I caused this myself because there must be some requirements about syntax, spacing, or separator when naming a Radio Button pair, I searched for answesr about how naming conventions to make this work correctly, but I didn't find that nor any specific naming examples to help me confirm my guess and show me how to correctly name Radio Buttons to make them work together. I did see some references to something called "Groups", but I couldn't find any references to "Groups" in those fields' Properties dialogs or even in the menu choices.
I hadn't expect this would be difficult to figure out (and I probably should have given up long ago and "just done what I was told"), but it's frustrating and now it feels like a personal challenge.
Can someone please tell me how I can get these 10 pairs of radio buttons working correctly so that only one can be marked at a time but, if the form filler has already marked one item in that pair, but returns and clicks on "No", that "Yes" mark goes away and now "No" shows as marked?
Regarding the "any or all of 5" group of checkboxes, I now assume that by changing each of those from being a "Radio Button" to a "Checkbox", I should be OK. Does that sound correct? But, again, I'd like for each of those buttons to be such that, if clicked on again, that box will be "unchecked".
BTW, I did figure out how to resize and reshape these fields and how to move a field around using the arrow keys. But what I don't understand is why the program insists on NOT inserting a "new field" either at -- or at least or close to -- the location of the cursor? It seems like such an unnecessary PITA that one must click on those arrow keys SO MANY times just to move that new field to the desired location! Is there perhaps a more efficient way to move a new field to where one wants it placed?