Checkbox odd behavior

[bretd34977030]

Starting with an InDesign (2015.4) document where I've created multiple checkbox fields on the page. I've modified the checkbox "On" appearance from the default black check mark, to a custom red "X". After exporting as an interactive PDF and testing the fields in Acrobat (both DC and Reader), the checkboxes function fine individually, but when more than one box is checked their appearance changes.

Clicking a single checkbox adds the red "X" I created. However, clicking any additional checkbox after that adds the red "X" to that box, BUT any previously clicked box or boxes switch from the red "X" to a black check mark.

Has anyone encountered this glitch before?

[George_Johnson · Accepted solution]

You can do things with field appearances in InDesign that Acrobat/Reader don't deal with as you might expect, especially if you have field highlighting enabled (Acrobat > Preferences > Forms > Show border hover colors for fields). If that's the problem, you can set up the form so that it turns off field highlighting, but since it's a user preference setting, you should set it up so that when the document closes it is set back to whatever it was when the document was opened. This can all be done with JavaScript as discussed here: need *exact* help on getting rid of ugly red outline and blue fill for pdf form fields

[bretd34977030]

Thanks George. The field highlighting appears to be the problem.

By turning that off in the Preferences, the checkboxes function correctly.