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jonc44903048
Participating Frequently
February 8, 2022
Question

Radio button borders, copying radio buttons

  • February 8, 2022
  • 1 reply
  • 1986 views
I have a four-page .PDF file made from a scan of a four-page paper form.  Pages 1 and 2 are the first copy of the form; pages 3 and 4 are the second copy of the form.  Both copies of the form have identical blanks for information entry.  The form also includes a number of "yes-no" or "A, B, or C" entries, each of these having a printed box on the form for responses in the form of check marks. The instructions, expalnatory text and labels are different between the two copies.  Pages 1 & 2 cannot be printed twice to produce the two copies.
Using Adobe Acrobat 9 running on a Windows PC I have created a number of text data fields on pages 1 and 2 of the form, then copied these fields to pages 3 and 4. Using Adobe Acrobat Reader, text entered into the text fields on pages 1 and 2 copies correctly into the identically-named text fields on pages 3 and 4.  
The problem comes in the form's required "yes-no" or "A, B, or C" entries.  The obvious option here is  the .PDF's "radio buttons" fields, with each pair of "yes-no" or triple of "A, B, or C" fields given the same name.  Checking the proper response in each set places the check mark in one of the 2 or 3 fields.  This works well on pages 1 and 2 of the finished form.  
Problems are:
1:    I need these same checked responses to appear on pages 3 and 4 of the form.  Copying these fields from pages 1 and 2 to pages 3 and 4 (as was done with the text fields) will not work, as when doing so, the responses will only appear in 1 of the now 4 (or 1 of the now 6) fields.  How can these radio button fields and their contents be copied from pages 1 and 2 to pages 3 and 4?
2:    While the text fields print only the text entered in the fields (no outline around the field,)  the radio button fields are enclosed in boxes which do print.  (There are aleready boxes in the form, having been scanned into the original PDF.)  Setting both "border color" and "fill color" to NONE does not prevent the borders of the radio buttons from printing.  How to prevent printing the boxes around the radio buttons?
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1 reply

try67
Community Expert
try67Community Expert
Community Expert
February 8, 2022

1. Go to the Properties of the radio-buttons and under "Options" tick "Buttons with the same name and choice are selected in unison".

2. That's odd. Are you sure the borders are printing? Try copying the fields to a blank page and then test it again.

J
jonc44903048Author
Participating Frequently
February 9, 2022
 
Thanks for your response, try67.  I created a test document with 3 field labels, "A", "B", and "C", saved it and printed it to .PDF file TEST.PDF.  
I opened TEST.PDF with Acrobat 9 and launched the Form Wizard.
I created 3, radio buttons (named ABC) adjacent to the labels.
I set the properties of the 3 files to"Border color NONE" and "Fill color NONE."
I saved TEST.PDF
I opened TEST.PDF using Acrobat Reader.  The boders of the radio buttons were visible as light grey lines.  When one of the radio buttons was clicked a checkmark would appear in that button.  Clicking another button would remove the check from the first button and show it in the newly clicked button.  (This is the desired action.)
I saved TEST.PDF and printed the saved file to paper; the grey borders of the radio buttons printed.
I opened TEST.PDF with Acrobat 9 and launched Form Wizard.
I selected all 3 radio buttons, set "Properties" to "Buttons weith the same name & value are selected in unison," and saved TEST.PDF.
I opened TEST.PDF using Acrobat reader.  Selecting any one of the three radio buttons caused all 3 to display check marks.  (NOT the desired action!)
I opened TEST.PDF with Acrobat 9 and launched Form Wizard.
I copied the three radio buttons and placed the copies below the originals.  I removed the ". . .selected in unison . . ." and re-saved TEST.PDF.
I opened TEST.PDF with Acrobat Reader.  I now see 6 radio buttons (the 3 originals and the 3 copies.)  Selecting any one of them puts a check in the selected button; I can select all 6, one at a time.  I cannot select one of the first set and have the check appear in the selected button of the first set and the correcponding button of the second set.  
I need to have several sets of radio buttons on pages 1 and 2 of my form with copies of those sets on pages 3 and 4 of the form, with the selections made on pages 1 and 2 appearing on pages 3 and 4.  And I need these radio buttons to have no border, as the boxes and borders already exist on the printed form.
J
jonc44903048Author
Participating Frequently
February 9, 2022

You need to give each radio button unique 'choice' under properties-> options,

for example give 'choice1' to first radio button 'choice2' to second and 'choice3' to third, now select 'unison'.

See this example:

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=12CDB9WzgQzHXiv5oEUJJ5D1YXJTYo58B 


Nesa,

 

Thanks very much!  That does exactly what I need.  You're a live saver!  🙂

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