Create an interactive calculator in InDesign that works in PDF

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
March 1, 2019
4 replies
15786 views

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

Correct answer Jeffrey_Smith

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.

TᴀW

Legend

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

Known Participant

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?

R

Ryan_Park

Participating Frequently

@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".

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.

J

Jeffrey_Smith

Correct answer

Community Expert

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.

B

blaurie2Author

Inspiring

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.