Interactive buttons not working on mobile pdf readers

[Abdessamad13]

Hello everyone,

I'm having an issue with interactive buttons in Adobe InDesign. When I create them and export my file as a PDF, they work perfectly on my laptop using Adobe Reader. However, when I try to open the same PDF on my Android phone, the interactive buttons don't work.

I would really appreciate any insights or solutions to this issue. Thank you in advance for your help!

[BobLevine · Accepted solution]

This is NOT an InDesign issue. If you take a look at other discussions on this forum you'll find that this is pretty much the way it is. Interactive PDF beyond Acrobat and Reader on a desktop is nothing short of a crapshoot and the worst possible experience is on mobile devices.

My standard advice, forget it. Unless you can control the reader app and platform, find another way.

[Steve Werner · Accepted solution]

I agree with Bob:

Aside for using PDF interactive buttons on desktop/laptop computers, when using Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat, they are pretty worthless.

They are used in standardized use in PDF in mobile devices. Most PDF readers average users make use of (browsers, apps like Apple Preview, etc.) do not support them at all.

It's just not worth trying unless you have a very narrow user group who all use Reader or Acrobat.