PDF interactions working in Indesign Viewer but not when exported and viewed in Acrobat

[L3ni7a]

Hello, this has become a head scratcher for me, I'm hoping someone knows the answer!

I have an interactive PDF document in InDesign with buttons and pop-ups. These pop-ups are hidden till triggered, and appear when the cursor is rolled on/off the corresponding button.

I have the pop-up boxes butted right up to the buttons (it doesn't work if they are separated) so the user can then slide the cursor over to the pop-up, which is set to stay active until the user rolls off OR clicks (some pop-ups are hyperlinked)

This is all hunky dory in the Indesign Viewer, but when I export and view in Acrobat the pop-ups dissapear upon button roll off, and it's impossible to roll onto the pop-up to click the hyperlink.

Does anyone have a clue what I'm doing wrong?

I know InDesign isn't the best for creating interactive PDF's but I'm not sure what other Adobe product would work better?

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Just checking - you export as Interactive PDF - and not PDF for Print ? 

[L3ni7a]

Hi, yes I export as interactive PDF

[BobLevine · Accepted solution]

There is no tool that will give you what you're looking for. In theory it should work, but in practice, rollovers, buttons, etc simply don't work well at all. My advice is to give this up right now before you waste any more time on it. Even if you get any of it to work in Acrobat or Reader, you'll never get it to work on any mobile device and most third-party PDF readers.

BTW, there is no viewer in InDesign to preview PDFs. That's an EPUB preview.

[L3ni7a]

This is an internal document which will only be viewed on Desktop and in acrobat. Do you have any reccomendations or ideas for other software that may work?

[BobLevine]

No. Why does it have to be a PDF? If it's for internal use only, do it as an EPUB and use Thorium Reader for Windows and the Books app on a Mac.

[L3ni7a]

Because I'd have to figure out how to make Epub's in Indesign and I was just being lazy by making a PDF instead x-D.... Anyway, thanks for your advice, off I go to youtube for Epub tutorials!

[BobLevine]

For a fixed layout epub you already have it set up. Just export it and try to open it with Books or Thorium Reader.

[Jeffrey_Smith]

As long as this PDF is viewed in Acrobat/Reader, I don't see any reason that it would not work. Take a look at the attached PDF. The popup is triggered with a click, but a rollover should work as well. If you can, post a sample of your PDF.

[L3ni7a]

Ahh I see. Your pop-up is fixed and closeable. Mine are rollover. I've set the button to reveal the pop up when 'rolled over' and dissapear when 'rolled off'.... then the hyperlinked pop-up 'hidden till triggered' and revealed when 'rolled over', dissapear when 'rolled off', then the whole box is hyperlinked when 'clicked'.... Does that make sense!?

[L3ni7a]

[Jeffrey_Smith]

Attached are a PDF and Indesign document to demonstrate the rollover, hyperlink, and close.

The rollover does require a trick and it's in the document. I would suggest a Release or Click instead of Rollover.