Button rollovers in Interactive pdf files viewed in Acrobat pro cause whole screen to go white

[Justin_Luton]

Hi All,

Two of us working in seperate indesign files are finding that the buttons (upon rollover) cause Acrobat pro to glitch and fill the screen with white. They are simple 'go to destination' (within the same doc) buttons with a rollover state added. No tweaks that we've attempted seem to make it work but strangely; the Pdf files behave as you'd expect for other people in the office. 

We've both tried uninstalling acrobat but to no avail.

Wondering if anyone else has experienced this?

[Derek Cross · Accepted solution]

Regarding buttons in Interactive PDFs, you can have a word or words or an image (such as a button shape) as a document hyperlink to say another page in the document, or to an external website.
Some devices, for example, iPads, don't have rollover capability – only click – you should avoid multi-action buttons like On Click, On Roll Over, etc.  

Multi-state objects (MSO) don’t work at all in Interactive PDFs.

[cusacka]

Thank you @Derek Cross. After evaluating how best to create a navigable pdf (which I have used for my creative portfolio). I have now taken your advice, used hyperlinks, and removed all buttons from the original. Which is what was causing the blinking of pages within Acrobat in the first place.

[Justin_Luton]

Just for further clarity @Derek Cross when creating an interactive pdf are you advocating creating simple page-to-page style buttons via the hyperlinks panel instead of creating them via the buttons and forms panel? (Regardless of roll overs etc, which I'm now avoiding like the plague). I was assuming it was these actions that was causing the issues, not the method for creating the button. 

[BobLevine]

Yes, just about everyone has. Rollovers an awful idea especially since most PDF readers won't honor them and there is no rollover possible in a mobile device.

Stop using them.

[LucvH]

I have the same problems since a few days. It has nothing to do with a hover or role-over state. I only have a simple button with only 'click' functionality which causes a pop-up to show. That has always worked properly. But now when I want to click on the button, the instant I hover over the button to click on it the screen fills completely white. Really strange and I hope this bug gets fixed really quickly!

[BobLevine]

It's not going to get fixed, and it has nothing to do with InDesign, but with the PDF format itself.

You might just as well give up now; these features, even in Acrobat are wonky at best.

[KaJay235106372u13]

You're a bit of a negative nacy Bob.. This has worked well in the past so the must be a bug that's in the newer updates.  Or, if you say that they won't be fix, what would be an alternative or solve that we could use in the interim as we pivot from old interavtive practices?

[John Mensinger]

Bob's been consistently advising against using "interactive PDF" as a platform for rich experiences for several years now, and for good reason. Adobe is no longer in control of the PDF file format spec, and there are a couple hundred PDF readers on various platforms, all of which add up to instability when it comes to interactive features invoked from the user side.

An argument that "it all used to work and now it doesn't" understandably seems viable, but as Bob has pointed it, Adobe won't be fixing it, mostly because they can't. So if delivering rich content is your objective, it's best to know what won't work and avoid it in favor of platform that are currently stable.

[Derek Cross]

I mention earlier in this thread what kind of buttons you can use successfully in Interactive PDFs.

[KaJay235106372u13]

Understood, I have just tried some of your suggestions Derek and they seem to work better. Bummer that the interactivity isn't seamless across the updates but I guess that's why adaptions and new ways come up.

And appolgies for my response Bob, but it did seem a bit of 'no, nope, cant do that, it's impossible" in the way your responses were worded instead of something more constructive or explainatory.

[Diane Burns]

To add to what others have suggested here, is there any chance you can use Publish Online for this project? It supports all of InDesign's interactivity. Some great examples here: http://bit.ly/PubOnCollection

Still, I'm not a big fan of rollovers since, as has been pointed out here, they are not supported on tablets, etc.

[BobLevine]

I get the frustration. I really do. And yeah, I've been railing against interactive PDF for a long time. Check out this post I wrote six years ago. It's okay to say no to interactive PDF (boblevine.us)

[JR Boulay]

"and it has nothing to do with InDesign, but with the PDF format itself."

BobLevine, it has nothing to do with the PDF format (aka ISO 32000 Standard), it's a bug of Acrobat.

[FCassidy]

I've had similar issues. Since roughly the start of 2022, any new updates to the software have affected the rollover states – making the page white-out. Previously, the pages worked fine, so it must be due to some updates. Annoying...

[deanp78121107]

I believe the issue is Big Sur. On other OS's the problem does not exist. I've not tried Monterey so don't know if it was ironed out.

[FCassidy]

I have stopped using rollover states because they are too problematic across touch devices and various Mac OS set-ups. I have started using simple clicks to ensure the files work. (Adobe needs to seriously look at this issue as it is affecting designers' ability to deliver on client requests). 

[JR Boulay]

I don't use rollover states either, but that's mostly because I think this is old boomer stuff.

😉

[Benjamin M. Root IV]

So, is it just the "rollover" action, or is it because it's an InDesign button acting in a PDF? I'm newly on a project for a client, for a bigger (huge) client. And the whole thing has been sold on this interactive functionality (beyond just external hyperlinks). If it's a problem with multi-state buttons, then we're fkd. We're OK with pushing Acrobat as the "preferred" viewer app. But we need it to work. We're not in a position to Publish to web, nor (I think) E-pub.

[BobLevine]

Sorry, but even in Acrobat those buttons are nothing short of wonky. The more you use, the worse it gets. This thread covers everything. Nothing's changed and it's not going to get better.

[Derek Cross]

Hi Benjamin M. Root IV

Have a look at in5, an InDesign plugin (at extra cost) which may provide you with a solution:

https://ajarproductions.com