Button and forms option - interactive PDF

[davidw98961447]

Hello: 

I created a basic interactive element within InDesign using the "button and form" option. Essentially, I created 3 buttons with the idea the user would click a button and a popup window would appear and when they select X the popup dissapears. Once created I tested it using the EPUB interactivity preview and it worked however, when downloaded as an interactive PDF, it no longer works. Did I do something wrong? 

Thank you! 

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

What platform/reader did you use to test it? With few exceptions, interactive PDF features work on desktop Acrobat and nowhere else. Functionality on browser and mobile readers is minimal.

[davidw98961447]

Hi James: 

Thanks for the reply. I used Adobe Desktop to test it and its not working 😕 

[Frans v.d. Geest]

>I tested it using the EPUB interactivity preview

it says it all: 'EPUB preview', it is not called 'PDF preview'. Buttons, States etc. do NOT work in PDF.

Export it to Publish online instead maybe.

[davidw98961447]

Thank you Frans:

The client I work for wants a PDF. If anyone has any work arounds, that would be great! 

[Frans v.d. Geest]

Educate your client.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

To sort of extend Frans' succinct and correct suggestion, most clients have no idea what formats work in what situations, or how. They saw something here, got an example of something there, were told in a seminar or airplane book that this is a wizard technique... but often don't really understand what they're asking for at this level.

Interactive docs are much, much more difficult than their prevalence and inclusion of tools for in apps would suggest. It all comes down to having a working platform or host for them. None work by themselves. You either write a standalone app that fully contains all the code and logic for interactivity, or you write a "doc" of some kind that keys into the features of a platform like a browser, reader, email client or the like. And there is no universal format or platform.

That your client wants a PDF probably indicates they think it's a more universal platform than it actually is. The truth is that PDF splintered long ago and is a standard without a keeper. Beyond simple flat-page docs with a few links, it's wholly dependent on readers, and the readers built into mobile devices, browsers and email clients are greatly inferior to desktop apps... and most desktop apps that aren't Adobe Acrobat are inferior in their own ways. (Most are built and sold on the idea that they're smaller, faster, cheaper/free, or just "not Adobe." That and kewl features overtake things like full compliance with the standards.)

So if your client wants a PDF with interactive features, fine. Make sure they know it will work reliably ONLY on a desktop version of Acrobat. They won't be able to put it on their website, email it to clients or otherwise scatter it to the winds... and they will not get any points from clients or the like by insisting the latter use Acrobat. Few people outside this field understand ANY of the above, and all of the diss and dislike PDF has gotten over the last decade traces directly to the lack of understanding that it's not a well-managed standard, and problems are rarely the fault of the format, Adobe or genuine Acrobat.

I'd back up to the client to find out exactly what they want here, in functional/field/use terms, and then work backward to a solution that meets the technical/distribution needs, which likely fall outside the generic notion of "everybody can open a PDF and use interactive features."

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Here is an example of a button that shows a hidden, read-only text field (popup) and a checkbox. Clicking the checkbox hides itself and the popup. It would require the free Acrobat reader; will not work in Preview or most browsers. It did work in Chrome with Acrobat extension.