Creating multiple Radio button groups or Fillable Text Boxes

[joshuaf71231886]

When preparing a Form-Fillable PDF I have forms with multiple Radio buttons as well as text boxes in a row. If you copy and paste these get duplicated in the same grouping. Is there a faster way to make duplicates of like radio buttons or fillable text boxes that you do not have to edit the Group name on individually? For example I have 20 questions on a page that are all Yes/No radio button answer options. I want to have 20 groupings of 2 item radio buttons of Yes and No options for each grouping.

[try67]

Duplicating text fields is easy enough. In Form Edit mode, just right-click one of the fields and select Create Multiple Copies.

This command doesn't work with radio-button groups, though. For that you would need to use a script, like this one I've developed:

Custom-made Adobe Scripts: Acrobat -- Generate Radio Button Groups

[majamin]

It seems there is no programmatic way to do it, but I accomplish the task in the following (manual) way:

1. Create one radio button, align it with my text as required
2. Under FIELDS, give the new radio group a name
3. Select the radio button and choose "create multiple copies" (for me, this was a row of radio buttons spaced apart evenly - a likert scale)
4. Under FIELDS, rename each individual (newly-created) radio group same as the first one (in step 2). This will merge all of the buttons under one group.
5. Under FIELDS > (Your Radio Group), rename the choices as required (they'll probably all have the same name)

This took an extra 1 minute, which is not bad!

[try67]

There is a programmatic way of doing it. See reply #1...

[majamin]

Yes, I was wrong stating that there is no programmatic way. To clarify, there seems to be a lack of a cost-free script that helps OP's problem. In the mean time, if anyone needs a manual method they can see my reply above.

[ChanningSmith89]

Add a single ungrouped Radio Button

Right click on the radio button and click on "Create Multiple Copies"

Decide selected number of fields down to copy and number of fields across to copy 

Decide the height and width for spacing of the fields (if the radio boxes are the same height and width across your sheet)

Select "Copy radio buttons to different groups"

Voila, you may have to move them manually depending on the spacing of your sheet but this allowed me to make 34 Yes or No radio boxes in seconds.

[Cyoung55347]

This unfortunately creates multiple groups both horizontally and vertically, so the buttons no longer function as radio buttons; you can select more than one button in a row.

[bradley1864 · Accepted solution]

i would recommend splitting it up and doing a single column first (ie input as many "yes" buttons as you need on that page in the vertical field and input "1" in the horizontal field). make sure the "copy radio buttons in different groups" option is checked for this part. select all of the buttons you just created and then right click and go back to the "create multiple copies" but this time input "1" in the vertical field and put "2" in the horizontal field if you have a "yes/no" option or 3 if you have a "yes/no/na" and so on. this time make sure the "copy radio buttons in different groups" is NOT selected. 

[Kaylynne0101]

Brilliant! You just saved me a ton of work! Thank you thank you!

[Chris@CandF]

Are you still there? Is it possible to provide screen shot to help us understand what you did?

[Chris@CandF]

Nevermind. I think we figured it out. Thank you sooooo much. 

[Yehuda278530797w4q]

Thank you for this idea. I wanted to add a few quick points of clarification.

1. This only works if the form is set as an Acrobat Form. If you pressed "Prepare Form for E-signing", the "Copy radio buttons in different groups" option when doing the "create multiple copies", will not work. Even if you check the box, it'll copy everything in the same group. One way around this is to do this process first before prepping for E-sign.

2. If you want the choices to have actual names (Yes, No) you'll need to rename it when creating the second column. Truthfully, I guess this doesn't matter much as the user doesn't see the option name, only where you place it and if it's in the "Yes" or "No" column, it shouldn't make a difference.

I know people have been saying this for ages, but Adobe really has to step up their game for things like this. This would be a simple implementation on their end and  a huge deal on our end.

[Tracey24818688ihws]

Where si the "copy radio buttons in different groups" box?

[Lucia2302851017mo]

Has there been an update that now makes it impossible to do multiple groups of radio buttons? I didn't have an issues in the past but don't seem to be able to do it anymore? Help please!

[try67]

How did you do it in the past, exactly? This was never a built-in feature of Acrobat, AFAIK.

[Lucia2302851017mo]

I honestly can't remember how I did it last time but I did figure out how to solve my problem. I added a new radio button to my form and it defaulted to a group I already had. By going into the properties I relabeled the group name and that moved the button to a new group and I could continue from there.

It's pretty disappointing that the knowledge articles don't explain how to do this better but glad I persisted as my form needed to have 3 independent groups of radio buttons. 

[Tracey24818688ihws]

You're correct.  This didn't used to be a problem.  I could click on Radio Button and put it where I wanted and it defaulted to a new group.  Some months ago this changed.  At the same time that changed, some other things changed that have made working in Forms infinitely more difficult.  I wonder if this all came about when they implemented Sign as part of Acrobat.    I'll try your recommended solution and see if I can get the group name to change.  I tried one and it had group name grayed out.

[jackielaflamme]

Choose your first button in the group.  Once you have set the box, use your pointer to right-click the box and choose the option 'rename field'.  You can then rename the field, name the radio button, and choose to add more buttons.  Once you have completed your column, under the fields properties you can rename each button.  Do this for each row or group of choices.  🙂

[johnd59898678]

Amazing! This worked for me. Never would have figured that out on my own! Just have to right-click and rename after each box is created. 

Understandable why it would be this difficult since Acrobat is so new!

[Sarah351777129sfi]

I had some issues with this as well - with some trial and error, he's the quickest method I found to create multiple likert scale questions on a single page:

• Create 1 checkbox.
• Right click on it and select create multiple copies. Select x number of boxes across (1 row only). Adjust the spacing so it fits your grid. 
• Select the row of boxes (right click and drag). Right click, properties, type in your group name (e.g likert scale 1)
• Right click on each box and go to properties: options: radio button choice - name each appropriately (e.g. 1 - strongly disagree to 10, strongly agree)
• Select the row of boxes (right click and drag). Right click, ctrl-C to copy, ctrl-V to paste a new set. Use the arrows on your keyboard to move the new row into the correct position.
• While still selected, right click, properties, general, and change the group name (e.g. likert scale 2)
• Repeat as needed for your different questions.