How to Find Hidden Buttons That Are No Longer Used

[Kathy5FFA]

Hello. I am using some buttons in Buttons and Forms and I have two listed there that I can't find in my document. I want to delete them, but they have no stroke or fill. There are also no edges showing so I don't know where they are. I can't find a way to delete unwanted buttons from the Buttons and Forms panel. You can only manipulate them if they are selected in the document. They must be linked to my table in some way because when I delete my table, the buttons are gone. However, I don't want to have to recreate my table so I'd like to just remove the unwanted buttons. Is there a way to delete the buttons that I can't find? In the attached screenshot, I'd like to delete buttons 39 and 41, but they only show up in the panel when I select one of my existing buttons 1, 2 or 3 and there doesn't seem to be a way to select and delete them in the panel. I'm using the most current version of InDesign on Windows 10. Thank you.

[Bill Silbert]

Go to View>Extras>Show Frame Edges. Once you do that any frames that have been made into buttons will show the icon highlighted in the screenshot below.

[Kathy5FFA]

@Bill Silbert Thank you. I tried that already and the outline and symbol only shows up for buttons 1 and 2. I have 3 other buttons in the document that do not show an outline. 

[John Mensinger]

Kathy,

You refer to a screenshot, but there is not one attached.

[Kathy5FFA]

@John Mensinger Sorry, here it is. I'm trying to delete buttons 35, 39, and 41.

[Diane Burns]

Yes, pls attach screen shot or file if practical to do so. Thnx.

[Diane Burns]

So it looks like the button is anchored, as you said earlier, in a table? Does Story Editor reveal any clues, such as finding an anchored item?

[Diane Burns]

Also, you can GREP search for Markers > Anchored Item Marker, if the button itself is anchored somehow.

[Kathy5FFA]

Thanks @Diane Burns  That didn't turn up anything, but I'm not sure if the buttons are anchored. I'm guessing from the results that they probably aren't. I think they are old buttons left over from before I anchored everything.

[BobLevine]

Quick thought. Create a new button and have its action display every other button on the page. Also, check the pasteboard.

[Kathy5FFA]

@BobLevine Thanks Bob. There's nothing on the pasteboard. I tried adding the new button, but even if it did show them in the pdf when clicked, I wouldn't be able to tell where they are because they are not filled or stroked. They probably did appear in the pdf, but I still can't see them because they are blank.

[BobLevine]

Try adding a new button that only displays the missing buttons. Export the PDF and then use the edit form function in Acrobat. I'm not 100% sure but I think that should show the buttons even with no fill or stroke.

[Kathy5FFA]

@BobLevine When I go Edit (Prepare) Form, the three missing buttons that are listied in InDesign are not in the pdf. So when the file is exported, they do not export with it. I guess in that case I should just ignore them, but it still bothers me that they are there.

[BobLevine]

One last thought. Export the file to IDML. Open that and see if it fixes the issue.

BTW, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the likelihood of this working in all PDF readers is probably somewhere around zero.

[Kathy5FFA]

@BobLevine Thanks for trying. The missing buttons are still in the idml file. I did recommend that this file be opened in Acrobat only. I know some features get wonky in browser pdf readers and also Mac Preview. The buttons and checkmarks still work, but the tab order and field highlighting are not consistent in other readers.

[J E L]

Hi @Kathy5FFA, Here's another thought, because knowing those are there would bug me, too. Did you run a full preflight check? Create a new profile, then twirl open and check every single option in every category to see if that throws an error you can locate. If so, you could replace that page even if you can't “see” the button. It may not work, but I've used this solution to find artifacts that I never would have known were in a document, especially files I've inherited from others.

[Laubender · Accepted solution]

@Kathy5FFA said:

" I'm trying to delete buttons 35, 39, and 41."

Hi Kathy,

open the Layers panel when the spread is active that is holding the table.

Expand that little triangle on the text frame in the Layers panel.

The buttons that are part of the table should be listed under the text frame that is holding the table.

( Provided that your table is not in overset, of course. )

You can select and remove every button that is listed there one after another:

Just click the trash can of the Layers panel.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )

[Kathy5FFA]

@Laubender You are a genius. This worked perfectly. The buttons' visibility was turned off in layers so that's why I couldn't see them. I was able to view, select, and delete all the buttons. THANK YOU 🙂