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Create an interactive calculator in InDesign that works in PDF

Explorer ,
Mar 01, 2019 Mar 01, 2019

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I have created an interactive calculator for a few of our price list documents. To do so, I have to copy/paste the calculator created in PDF to the PDF documents. I would like to see if there is a way to do it directly from the InDesign document so it will save me time. I have 9 documents to do this to. Here is a link to what we are using: https://logiflex.ca/medias/documents/graphics-test-calculator.pdf

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correct answers 1 Correct answer

Community Expert , Mar 01, 2019 Mar 01, 2019

Indesign's form fields are basic and can not include a calculation script.

One thing you could do is create the content in Indesign. Keep a master PDF with form fields and calculation scripts. In Acrobat, merge the 2 by replacing the page in the master PDF.

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Community Expert ,
Mar 01, 2019 Mar 01, 2019

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That has to be done in Acrobat.

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Community Expert ,
Mar 01, 2019 Mar 01, 2019

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Not in InDesign. If you could do it, it would be with JavaScript programming in Acrobat Pro. Ask in this forum:

Javascript

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Explorer ,
Mar 01, 2019 Mar 01, 2019

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I will look into it, thanks for your input.

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Community Expert ,
Mar 01, 2019 Mar 01, 2019

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Indesign's form fields are basic and can not include a calculation script.

One thing you could do is create the content in Indesign. Keep a master PDF with form fields and calculation scripts. In Acrobat, merge the 2 by replacing the page in the master PDF.

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Explorer ,
Mar 01, 2019 Mar 01, 2019

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Thanks, that is what I have been doing, but was hoping for a way to streamline operations. This calculator is popular where I work and there are 3 versions, US, Canda English and Canada French and it is in 3 different price lists, so an automation would have been a real time saver.

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Community Expert ,
Mar 01, 2019 Mar 01, 2019

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There may be with scripting in Acrobat. Pop on over to that forum and ask the experts there.

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People's Champ ,
Mar 01, 2019 Mar 01, 2019

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Calculation, validation and formatting scripts, as well as keyboard and mouse-event-triggered scripts, can all be added to interactive PDFs directly in InDesign with our FormMaker add-ons: https://www.id-extras.com/products/formmaker/

For short forms there is a free version as well.

Ariel

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Explorer ,
Feb 10, 2023 Feb 10, 2023

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This looked like the solution I needed, but while watching the tutorial video in the link posted, it seems that this add-on will only work when the end user also has it installed.


Is my understanding correct, or can auto-calculating fillable PDF forms be created with this add-on so that the PDFs can be sent off and filled in (with auto calculations) by other users who don't have the add-on installed?

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