Tab Order -- not maintaining order

Question

I create detailed medical forms for my company, which require frequent updates. I name all form fields, checkboxes, and radio buttons and set the tab order. After making updates to a form, however, the tab order always re-shuffles. In particular, any radio buttons (and sometimes checkboxes and signature fields) drop to the bottom of the tab order list. Fixing the tab order after each form revision is a tediousness time suck.

Does anyone have a suggestion / plug-in to avoid this going forward? I appreciate the help!

Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com · Accepted Answer

If I were to setup the form within Acrobat, wouldn't I need to redo that work (adding form fields and/or specifying tab order) after each time I generate an updated PDF from InDesign?
By @Meredith0404

That's correct, @Meredith0404. You'd have to rebuild the form parts each time you edited the PDF Form file. There are some tricks to make it a tad easier, but it's still a lousy, time-consuming workflow.

In your InDesign layout, are you controlling your reading orders? If so, which tools and techniques are you using to do that?

Threaded text threads for the visible skeleton portion of the form
Anchoring the form fields into the threaded text frames
Controlling the stacking order in the layers panel (bottom up: bottommost item is read first).

barbara_a7746676 · Answer

Once you complete the form in InDesign, it would be easier to set the tab order in Acrobat. Acrobat has much more robust forms features than InDesign has.

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