Fillable Text Form Created in Indesign, Not Filling Correctly in Preview

[AFleish]

I've created a fillable form in Indesign with several text boxes. When I export as an interactive pdf and test it out, everything works fine—I'm able to type in the text field and when I get to the end of the text box the text wraps and continues on the next line. When I get to the bottom of the text box I can continue to type and the box will scroll downward. However, as soon as I share this form with anyone else the text boxes stop working correctly. Other people are able to write in the text box but the text only appears in the middle of the text box and no longer wraps. There have been similar (but slightly different) issues when people have tried to fill it in with Acrobat or other pdf readers.

Due to the age of my computer, I am using Indesign CC 2019. Could this affect the compatibility with Preview? Or is there an issue with how I am exporting? Any help with this is much appreciated!

[Srishti Bali]

Hi there, 

So sorry to hear about this trouble. This is an expected behavior in Preview as it is not a PDF editor. Would you mind elaborating the issues you are facing with Acorbat? Will it be possible to share a few screenshots, PDF and InDesign file?

We’re here to help, just need more info.

Regards,

Srishti

[AFleish · Accepted solution]

Thanks! I actually got it to work in Preview by clicking the "multiline" checkbox in "buttons and forms". I somehow missed that originally and just had "scrollable" checked. So far, seems to have fixed the issue.

[John Mensinger]

A PDF form will only work reliably in Adobe Reader or Acrobat. "Compatibility with Preview" has never been solid. If you are designing a form that will go to many users on various platforms that you can't control, it would be best to abandon PDF and use HTML.