Merging interactive pages to other files

[JonathanArias]

Hello everyone, 

I have 3 indesign documents, each with one page with 7-15 pop ups on it. If I merge the documents into one to have it all in one file do I risk losing the interactivity?

Thank you

Jonathan

[Derek Cross]

Is this for use as an Interactive PDF?

[JonathanArias]

my output is both HTML and .pdf.

[John Mensinger]

If all the fields across the 3 documents have unique names, in theory, combining them should work. Any of us might ask the same question, so the only thing to do is try it and test it. If you combine the 3 and Save As a new file, your 3 individual files won't be affected, so there's no risk of destructive loss of what you have now.

[JonathanArias]

Thank you for the input John. 

all 3 designs come from the same file used as a template. 

when you say unique names, are we talking about buttons?

[John Mensinger]

I suppose in InDesign terms, yes, buttons. Like-named fields will behave differently than uniquely named ones. For instance, if Doc1 and Doc2 both have a field named popUp1 that each has its own behavior, combining Doc1 and Doc2 will result in Doc2's popUp1 assuming the same properties and behavior as Doc1's popUp1.

[Chad Chelius]

As John pointed out, I'd recommend that the names of the interactive buttons be unique. For the PDF, you could merge the 3 documents using Acrobat quite easily. For HTML, that'll be a bit trickier. You may want to consider using the Book panel in InDesign. Have you tested the HTML output yet? Is it sufficient for what you need? If not, you may want to look into the InDesign plug-in IN5 by Ajar Productions.

[JonathanArias]

Hey Chad, yes, i am using IN5 which is why i need one html document at the end, which means i need to merge all of these layouts into one document. i have yet set up all of the interactivity, is more than than i described before. I will need to test to see what happens. We all worked from one template file so yes, buttons right now have the same names. i will change that and test one popup. i will test both, with same name and different names

thanks guys.

[JonathanArias]

just tried it. did not go well. interactivity broke, glitches. 

[JonathanArias · Accepted solution]

cleaned up the file, it works with just one popup. not sure i want to gamble setting it all up so i will merge first and than set up the interactivity,

thanks