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puffmoike
Inspiring
June 20, 2017
Answered

Form with radio buttons: can I use a single file for print and web?

  • June 20, 2017
  • 3 replies
  • 1526 views

Is it possible to create / export a form with radio buttons so that it looks okay for print as well as interactive?

Here is a screengrab of part of the form, and the Buttons and Forms dialog box:

When I export it as an Interactive PDF it works as expected.

But if I export it for print I can't get a satisfactory result. When I export I have tried:

  1. Selecting Do Not Include from the dropdown for Interactive Elements, which leaves empty spaces where the four radio buttons should be
  2. Selecting Include Appearance from the dropdown for Interactive Elements, which prints the 'active' dots in all four squares (identical to how it appears in InDesign, whereas I just want the border)

Any ideas? Should I create the buttons differently? Is there an export option I'm overlooking?

_____________________________________

I appreciate that it might seem simpler just to make two versions. But I want to find an optimal way to do this because I need to create multiple location-specific versions of the form, and then I need to regularly update these with new dates (which are identical for all the different locations). It seems like I should be able to leverage the power of Master Pages such that I can update new dates on just one master page, and then have these flow through to the location-specific variants. And ideally I'd like to just have one variant for each location, which I then export for print and web respectively, rather than having to manage separate print and interactive versions for each location.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer puffmoike

Thanks to JR_Boulay​ and Jeffrey_Smith​ for their input.

However it appears I can achieve what I wanted simply by changing the highlighted state in the Buttons dialog from the [Normal On] state to the [Normal Off] state, which should be a much easier way to maintain my InDesign file and create the documents I need each month.

This behaviour might be in the help files somewhere, but I didn't stumble across it in my travels.

Sorry if my question overcomplicated my issue.

(I just worked it out by chance when I noticed one of my other radio buttons on a different part of the form was not exhibiting the same behaviour when exporting for print as the other buttons, as I described in my original post).

3 replies

JR Boulay
Community Expert
JR BoulayCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 21, 2017

Put interactive fields on a separate layer and hide it before exporting to PDF-CMYK.

That's all.

If you have any doubt about color management, you can create the layout in CMYK and convert to interactive PDF to RGB to avoid any color management issue.

Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe
J
Community Expert
Jeffrey_SmithCommunity Expert
Community Expert
June 20, 2017

You can use one PDF exported from Indesign, then use Acrobat to create a print PDF.

Open interactive PDF in Acrobat and Tools > Print Production > Preflight > PDF Fixup > Flatten all form fields into page content. This will leave box, but not the radio button.

Second thing to do if file is going to commercial printer: Using Preflight Tool > Fix > Convert color to B/W. This will turn previous RGB form into 100% black for print.

    JR Boulay
    Community Expert
    JR BoulayCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 20, 2017

    If you don't want radio-buttons to be the same in each version you should use layers, one for print export, one for screen export.

    Acrobate du PDF, InDesigner et Photoshopographe
      P
      puffmoikeAuthorCorrect answer
      Inspiring
      June 20, 2017

      Thanks to JR_Boulay​ and Jeffrey_Smith​ for their input.

      However it appears I can achieve what I wanted simply by changing the highlighted state in the Buttons dialog from the [Normal On] state to the [Normal Off] state, which should be a much easier way to maintain my InDesign file and create the documents I need each month.

      This behaviour might be in the help files somewhere, but I didn't stumble across it in my travels.

      Sorry if my question overcomplicated my issue.

      (I just worked it out by chance when I noticed one of my other radio buttons on a different part of the form was not exhibiting the same behaviour when exporting for print as the other buttons, as I described in my original post).

      J
      Community Expert
      Jeffrey_SmithCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      June 20, 2017

      This will work if you are preparing a document that you will print on your desktop unit.

      But if you are preparing a PDF for commercial print, I would not recommend leaving interactive elements, these can be ignored by a RIP or DFE and you will end up with no box on form. And as mentioned previously, an interactive PDF by default is RGB. Submitting a RGB file for digital print will cost more because the black will print all four colors as opposed to one color. For offset lithography, the RGB black most likely will convert to something less than desirable.

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