Interactive PDF

[Tonysalvador]

I'm trying to create a document in InDesign that features a photo slide. It works just fine in the epub preview in InDesign, but the photo slide doesn't work when I export the document as an interactive PDF. Is there a way to include a photo slider in an interactive PDF? I appreciate any help.

[Frans v.d. Geest · Accepted solution]

You already answered yourself: it works in epub preview but you export as pdf. Not the same now is it? That said, no, animations, slideshows etc. do not work in pdf. Use Publish online or fxl epub.

[Diane Burns]

Agree with Frans, don't use PDF for interactive documents. Publish Online supports all of InDesign's interactive features, and you can do some great things with it. Here are some good examples. https://adobe.ly/2yTI8OE

[Angel Canvas]

Greetings to all of you!

I am seeing this post quite late but still want to contribute. Wether in forums or in tutorial (video or written) on other websites or platforms, everybody seems to confirm that it is impossible. However, after numerous trials, I managed to create an adobe interactive pdf with a manual photo slider (what Mr Tony Salvador was trying to achieve if I understood the post very well). It can navigate from the first picture to the last or from the last to the first picture. I did it in 2020 but still got the interactive pdf as a proof if you are interested to see it for yourselves, and also the original Indesign file.

[Derek Cross]

Angel Canvas -- Have you tested your Interactive PDF successfully with different PDF readers and on various devices, such as tablets and smart phones?

[Luke Jennings3]

You can make a PDF slideshow, but it must be viewed with Acrobat or Reader, and only in full screen mode.

https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/setting-pdfs-presentation.html

[Angel Canvas]

Mr Luke Jennings3,

Thank you very much for the link. I have learned that it is possible to add pages and transitions to an already existing PDF file with Acrobat Reader Pro. However, the article is about a PDF file with several pages aimed to be used as a slideshow. The interactive file I worked on is created from InDesign. It has one slide or page only, containing buttons and a rectangle box in which the images are displayed. And when I open the file on Acrobat reader, it asks me wether or not I can use the full screen mode. And the good thing is that full screen mode or not, the file works perfectly.

[Frans v.d. Geest]

BIG difference in having a photo slideshow on a page or presenting a PDF as a slideshow page by page. This is not the same, but a totaly different subject!

[Angel Canvas]

Yes, I do agree there is a BIG difference Mr Frans Van Der Geest. I just thought that the photo slideshow was what Mr Tony Salvador was aiming for.

[Angel Canvas]

Mr Derek Cross,

I have only tested the file on Acrobat Reader since it is the one that I have and it is free. As for mobile devices, I have only tested it on my android smartphone but the interactivity only works in an app called wps + pdf office.

[Derek Cross]

That's the point, if the document is to be distributed widely, an Interactive PDF is a limited and unsuitable format on many readers and devices.

[Angel Canvas]

Yes Mr Derek Cross. That is the point. Still, it is not impossible to realize a PDF interactive diaporama with InDesign and that is the only thing I came to share with the community. However, I have to thank all of you as this interaction has proved fruitful for me. I have learned many things in a little time.