Create an interactive calculator in InDesign that works in PDF

[blaurie2]

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

[BobLevine]

That has to be done in Acrobat.

[Steve Werner]

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

Javascript

[blaurie2]

I will look into it, thanks for your input.

[Jeffrey_Smith · Accepted solution]

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.

[blaurie2]

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.

[BobLevine]

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

[TᴀW]

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

[June Rabbit]

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?

[Ryan_Park]

Hello June Rabbit.  I'm reviving a bit of an old thread here, but did you ever get an answer to your question about whether or not an end user would need to have the FormMaker plug-in installed on their end for calculations to work correctly?  I have a 7 page order form with approx 200+ fields I need to setup calculations for.  It would ceratinly be ideal to use this plug-in, but it all falls apart if the end user needs to have it as well.  

Thanks in advance for your answer

[TᴀW]

@June Rabbit @Ryan_Park Sorry, I never saw your follow-up question.

So, just to clarify, the PDFs that FormMaker creates are 100% plain-vanilla PDFs. The PDF interactivity relies 100% on Acrobat's own interactive capabilities.

What this means is that the end user does not need to have FormMaker installed. In fact, they won't even know that the PDF was created with FormMaker.

All the end user needs to get the full interactive PDF experience is the free Adobe PDF reader, on a desktop computer.

It could be that other free readers would also work, but for the most reliable experience, the desktop version of Adobe's free PDF reader is the software of choice.

[Ryan_Park]

@TᴀW Thanks so much for the clarification.  I'll be discussing with my client the pros/cons of incurring the additional cost of the FormMaker subscription for the purposes of creating the form.  

One more question.  Your specific mention of a desktop computer has me slightly concerned.  My client envisions filling out this order form while in front of his customer while being mobile on a tablet.  I'm assuming that your description of a plain-vanilla PDF would support this use, and not actually require a desktop version of PDF? 

[TᴀW]

Interactive PDFs use advance features. While theoretically any standards-compliant PDF reader app should display the PDF correctly and implement all interactive features in the PDF, many do not.

The free Adobe desktop PDF reader does. The Adobe mobile app does not support all interactivity features (last time I checked). There may be some others (NitroPDF, Foxit?), but this becomes rarer on Android or iOS devices.

And there are just too many PDF readers out there, so it's impossible to check them all.

So if you know you end-user will be using the Adobe desktop reader, there should be no problem. If not, you'll need to find out what app they're planning to use and do some thorough testing to make sure that that particular app supports the interactivity your PDF will require...

[BobLevine]

Sounds to me like you're trying to re-invent the wheel.  So, let's start off with why you feel this needs to be a PDF.

This would be far easier and more reliable as a form on your website.

[Ryan_Park]

@BobLevine the conversation with my customer around this piece started as a simple update to an existing hard-copy order form he had been using, but it quickly grew to become a multi-page order form to include photos of some of the products being offered. 

At some point, I mentioned the ability to have it be a digital version with the possibility of on-the-fly calculations and he really liked that idea.  So, down the rabbit hole I went in search a solution OUTSIDE of Acrobat to setup those form fields with calculations, which led me to this thread.  

While I have no doubt that it would be easier and more reliable as a form on a website - especially when you consider the dream of integrating the output of the form directly into a Quickbooks invoice, the exectuion of that becomes a little more difficult, as it falls FAR outside my capabilities and knowledge base to execute such a task, and unfortunately, one that I'm not sure my clent is willing to pay for.  

[BobLevine]

So, scope creep. Sure, a plain vanilla form can be banged out pretty easily and even work with most PDF readers but you've gone way beyond that. There are plenty of ways to do what you need (PDF is NOT one of them) and they're not necessarily going to be expensive.

Without knowing the budget for this it's impossible to say.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@Ryan_Park

Are you looking for something like the attached PDF - that let customer order unique configuration of the product?

There is no calc right now - there was no need for it - but it would be easy to add total cost of the order. 

This PDF has been exported from an INDD file that has been generated from a database - and then was automatically injected with custom JS in Acrobat - 100% automated process. 

[Ryan_Park]

@Robert at ID-Tasker yes, something like that. My form doesn't have the if/then determinates that yours appears to have, but the overall functionality would be similar. See the attached.

Unfortunately, my understanding of JS is similar to creating an online form as suggested by a previous answer - very limited. 

I would assume there are services out there that would assist with the coding, and it's something I may consider if it doesn't prove to be too cost prohibitive. 

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@Ryan_Park

JS code is injected in Acrobat after PDF is exported - but is prepared at the same time INDD document is built in InDesign - so no need for an external "service".

[Ryan_Park]

Thanks @Robert at ID-Tasker .  By external 'service', I meant someone other than myself that is familiar with JS and can do the work to inject the code into the PDF output.  

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@Ryan_Park

Right, but my solution is 3in1 - it can build INDD file from a database AND then export PDF AND inject JS.