Can't change the appearance of a Checkbox in InDesign

[L Gryfe]

I am formatting a pdf form using InDesign and I want to style the checkboxes using one of the styles from the Sample Buttons And Forms palette. I select the checkbox and then click on the style I want but nothing changes. If I modify the appearance manually, the new appearance will show in the pdf momentarily but then revert to the default appearance as soon as I click on another part of the form. I've tried using ID 2020 and ID 2021. My Acrobat is also up to date. I feel like this is a bug. I can make a workaround but I’d prefer to know why it's not behaving as predicted. Attached is a sample file of a checkbox I modified manually. Thanks in advance for your insights.

[Jeffrey_Smith]

Acrobat will override all appearance of a checkbox, and use the check box style. This is a propery of the checkbox within Acrobat: Property > Options > Check Box Style. You have a choice of: Check, Circle, Check, Diamond, Square, or Star. Check is the default style. And regardless of how you style it in Indesign, it will use Acrobat styles.

[J E L]

@Jeffrey_Smith Thanks, I never knew that but I have also never used InDesign to create the functions of a PDF form... good to know! 

[L Gryfe]

Jain, normally it’s a huge time saver. But in this case, not so much…

[L Gryfe]

So, I am parially to blame. I thought you click to apply the style but you actually drag and drop, so that explains part of my problem. But the issue remains – specifically for check boxes – that they revert to the default checkbox when you export. Other types of buttons seem to work better.

[L Gryfe]

Jeffrey, are you saying that the Sample Buttons And Forms palette is, essentially, useless? This sounds like a bug. Am I correct?

[J E L]

Okay, lol, yea, that didn't make sense so I had to test it. Seems to work fine but I may be missing what you need to do since I've never tried it before. I created an ugly check box and in the PDF dialogue, checked under Interactive Elements to "include appearance" and the PDF had my same ugly check box that worked in a form edit...

[Laubender]

"Jeffrey, are you saying that the Sample Buttons And Forms palette is, essentially, useless?"

I think it was of good use by its introcuction, around InDesign CS5, more than 10 years ago.

Things change… Buttons back then were also used with Flash controls.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender

( ACP )

[L Gryfe]

Thanks for you insight. But if they're going to offer a feature, it should be one that works – especially considering all the apps are part of their own design suite.

[Barb Binder]

HI @L Gryfe:

I don't find the Sample Buttons And Forms palette to be useless—it works for me, as expected. I use it in forms design. 

However, so does your checkbox, @L Gryfe. When I enable it, it is a full to the edge of the frame black square. It does not change when I click outside of it. 

~Barb 

[L Gryfe]

Barb, thanks for letting me know. That's interesting. Maybe the problem is with my Acrobat and not my InDesign. I’ll see what the client says. If it works for them, I guess I can live with it. I recently updated to Big Sur and my Adobe apps haven’t been great since then.

[J E L]

@L Gryfe I've read a lot of people had problems with their GPU performance settings in Big Sur. Have you tried turning it off or on?

[L Gryfe]

Not for ID or Acrobat, but I have for Illustrator. They just announced they're releasing the updates for the M1 chips soon. I can't wait! I'm crossing my fingers that this will make a lot of my problems go away.

[Jeffrey_Smith]

Barb, are you saying that the appearance applied in Indesign of a checkbox is retained when viewed in Acrobat? If so, how are you doing this?