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GraphicsGeezer
GraphicsGeezer
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Invisible radio buttons

Feb 10, 2013 2:02 PM

When I export an Indesign doc to PDF everything works fine but if fields are not highlighted the radio buttons are invisible. Is there any way to export these buttons from In Design as visible. Otherwise I have to laboriously select every button on the PDF and change their borders to black to make them visible.

556 Views   8 Replies   Latest reply: iiiian, Feb 20, 2013 12:25 PM
 
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  • Michael Witherell
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    1. Michael Witherell,
    Feb 10, 2013 2:06 PM   in reply to GraphicsGeezer
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    How did you build the radio buttons?

    What export to PDF settings are you using?

     
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  • GraphicsGeezer
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    2. GraphicsGeezer,
    Feb 10, 2013 2:21 PM   in reply to Michael Witherell
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    As per the tutorial somewhere on this incomprehensibly complicated website. I built them in InDesign 6 with a rectangle frame tool and used the Buttons & Forms palettet to convert them to radio buttons, then exported the whole thing as an interactive PDF to Acrobat.

     

    It doesn't seem like much of a problem until you have dozens of radio buttons, which you've converted to show borders and then realize you need to fix something in InDesign and will have to re-export the PDF again.

     
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  • Steve Werner
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    3. Steve Werner,
    Feb 10, 2013 4:59 PM   in reply to GraphicsGeezer
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    By default, out of InDesign CS6, radio buttons should be visible.

     

    Below is a sample form I built from CS6 and you can see the radio buttons.

     

    RadioButtons.jpg

     

    I'd suggest restoring your InDesign preferences and see if that helps.

     

    Here are instructions for restoring preferences:

     

    http://pfl.com/trb

     
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  • iiiian
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    4. iiiian,
    Feb 19, 2013 1:24 PM   in reply to Steve Werner
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    I'm having the exact same problem. Weird thing is that they were working and now they are not. I worked on them on my work computer, and then on my home computer and that's when the problem started occuring.

     

    I restored preferences, just created a new document to text it, and it still doesn't work.

     

    The buttons are visible if the 'highlight existing fields' or whatever is selected but not if they are not. And they don't print as visible.

     

    They are visible in Apple Preview though.

     
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  • iiiian
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    5. iiiian,
    Feb 19, 2013 2:37 PM   in reply to Steve Werner
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    For example, this is what it looks like without 'Highlight Existing Fields':

     

    Screen Shot 2013-02-19 at 4.28.03 PM.jpg

    And this is it with 'Highlight Existing Fields':

    Screen Shot 2013-02-19 at 4.28.12 PM.jpg

    So it does appear, but it doesn't print with the buttons enabled.

     

    It's so weird because it did work before. I reexport forms that did work and they don't have the radio buttons show up.

     
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  • Steve Werner
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    6. Steve Werner,
    Feb 19, 2013 3:21 PM   in reply to iiiian
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    Have you tried restoring your InDesign preferences? I usually think of this when something has worked before, but strangely doesn't seem to work again.

     

    Here's how to do it:

     

    http://pfl.com/trb

     
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  • iiiian
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    7. iiiian,
    Feb 19, 2013 3:29 PM   in reply to Steve Werner
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    Yes, I tried that but same thing happened.

     
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  • iiiian
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    8. iiiian,
    Feb 20, 2013 12:25 PM   in reply to iiiian
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    It appears that if I open the PDF in Acrobat, click on the radio button and access Properties, I have to change the border color from nothing to something and it is then visible. I have no idea why it exports like this from InDesign or how I can fix it, but at least I have a solution, though it is an awkward one.

     
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