How to limit interactive text field and have it automatically tab

[davidfox@charter.net]

I am creating a form with interactive text fields. I want to have  a series of text fields in which a user can enter only a single letter (or character) and and once they enter the letter it will automatically tab to the next field, so the user doesn't have to hit tab or click in the next box. Is it possible to set this up in InDesign?

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Check out this post:

https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/how-to-automatically-advance-to-next-field-in-ado...

[davidfox@charter.net]

So, regarding your reply, itr appears that there is no way to do this in InDesign, only in Acrobat correct? And the auto tab involves creating JavaScript (which I have no experince with). Is that correct?

Also, I see no way in InDesign to limit the number of characters in a text field other than reducing teh size of the box so it can only fit one character. Is that correct?

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Yes, it involves using JavaScript, so it may or may not work on the user's device.

InDesign should be considered at the _starting point_ for making a PDF form; the PDF almost always requires edits and adjustments in Acrobat Pro afterwards.

[Diane Burns]

Agree with David. It's hard to avoid putting finishing touches with Acrobat after creating a form in InDesign. Unless it's an extremely simple form, and in your case, it's going to require a bit more than InDesign can deliver. And I don't think drawing a smaller box will actually limit input, it will simply cut it off and frustrate the user.

[davidfox@charter.net]

Thanks for your reply. After playinga around alittle more, I realzed I can accomplish what I need simply by using the "Comb of" field under Properties/Options.

I still would have preferred to do this InDesign so I don't have to do the extra step every time I Export the pdf after editing the doc, but at least it is simple to do.

[BobLevine]

You don't need to. Just use the replace pages command. The interactive items will stay right where they are.

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Having a comb of 1 will not automatically advance one to the next field. 

Below is the method I use to update the form's underlying PDF. I drag the page thumbnail to the form's page thumbnail while holding down Cntl-Alt. (It should be Cmd-Opt on Mac but I'm too lazy to boot up my Mac to test it.)

[davidfox@charter.net]

No, I had a limit of 10 characters , so I set it to Comb of 10, which seperated it out into 10 separate "boxes". Typing in a character automatically advanced it through each of  the 10 "boxes".

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS]

Correct--but that is still one field. Is this data being collected electronically or just printed out?