Create and Export 'clickable' interactive PDF?

Hello,
I'm working on a product brochure which reqires the ability to change out images inside the PDF with a click of a button.
It's identical to what Apple use on their website, however I want to create it in AI and export it as a PDF.
Is this possible? Would it only work in Acrobat or would it be compatiable with Preview on the Mac?
The best eample of what I mean is here :https://www.apple.com/ipod-touch/features/
- Scroll down to the second image where you can change the color of the iPod/
Thank you

I want to create it in AI and export it as a PDF. Is this possible?
Yes. You'll need Acrobat.
1. Draw the artwork in Illustrator. Put the elements of the artwork which need to change on a dedicated Layer.
2. Duplicate the Layer. Make the desired changes. Repeat for as many different versions as needed.
3. Save A Copy...as PDF. Turn on the Create Acrobat Layers... option.
4. Open in Acrobat Pro.
5. Create buttons. Set the buttons' Actions to Set Layer Visibility.
Would it only work in Acrobat or would it be compatiable with Preview on the Mac?
Don't know about Preview on Mac OS. It will work in Reader and in the Reader browser plug-in.
Example:
Interactive PDF
JET

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How can i get to see a video UNDER a layer rectangle and a text box when i export an interactive pdf?

I'm trying to set a video as background of a page.. it all works as far as i watch the preview of that page, but when it comes to export the interactive pdf all i can see in that page is the video -.-''
please HELP!

this is what i see when i'm in indesign
this is what i get when i export -.-''

Is it possible to place a video into a circle frame for export as interactive PDF?

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Correct! Good solution!
But you missed a couple steps in your directions:
(1) Make a rectangle filled with Paper color.
(2) Make a circle filled with None (this will be the mask for the movie).
(3) Move the circle over the rectangle. Select both and choose Object > Path > Make Compound Path. This creates a paper-color rectangle with a hole.
(4) Position the rectangle-with-hole object over the movie to position the mask.
(5) Use the Buttons and Forms panel to make that object into a button. Give it an action of playing the movie.
(6) Choose File > Export > PDF (Interactive).
It works because the button (which has interactivity) is atop another object which has interactivity (the movie).
Brilliant!

Issue while exporting an interactive PDF

While exporting an interactive PDF I am getting the below issue.
The Go to page button is not supported in PDF. The button appearance will be preserved, but its interactivity will dropped.
Please let me know the reason@

Although the Go to Page action is not supported for PDF, you can simulate the same action by first creating New Hyperlink Destinations > Page(s). Then select the “Go to Destination” action, and select the Destination > Page #

Indesign CS5.5 Crashes when exporting an Interactive PDF

My InDesign CS5.5 continues to crash when trying to export an Interactive PDF.
It begins to come up with a box titled WARNING but it all closes and i don't even see the error message.
Will it work if I deactivate and reactive? will that work by any chance?
Its really frustrating.
Yasmine.

Please upload the crash report to http://pastebin.com and post a link here.
I saw the "Replace, or "trash" your InDesign preferences" thread but am confused as to what I need to delete vs. rename or move.
It's teh same as the vulcan nerve pinch you tried -- I assume InDesign prompted you to delete preferences and you said OK.
What happens if you create a new document and Pages (panel) > Move Pages pages 1-83 to the new document, and then recreate 84 and 85 by hand? Does it work? Presumably this is document corruption of some sort.

My buttons dont show up after I have exported to interactive pdf!!!!! HELP

Hi there,
I am using cs5.5 indesign. I am creating an interactive document with simple buttons to move from page to page.
They work fine in preview modes, but as soon as I export to pdf, they become invisible.
Let me give you an example:
1. I either create my own shape or use one of the sample buttons provided.
2. I place text over the button along the lines of (click here to proceed)
3. I convert to a button (if needs) sometimes i use sample buttons so that doesnt need
4. I add a function (+ to next page)
5. I set a rolloover state and normal state
6. I preview it, it works fine
7. I export to interactive pdf.
8. The button is invisible!!!!!!!!
Funnily enough, the additional text boxes that i sometimes place over the buttons are not invisible.......
This is frustrating the hell out of me, i cannot find anywhere online that explains this. I have watched hours of interactive button videos and am convinced I am not doing anything wrong that they have told me.
Please help if possible, I just want to have a simple next page button!!!!!!
Thanks so much

Hi there,
Still trying to fix this problem, does anybody have even a small hint please?
Everything seems fine, i convert to pdf and the buttons just vanish.....you can still click on the space where they were and it performs the function, just that the image or graphic that has been converted into the button is completely invisible.
I know it seems a small thing, but I can't send my presentations out without it.
Any help would be much appreciated, thankyou

InDesign crashes every time I export to interactive PDF??

I am using InDesign CS6 on Windows 7 professional.
I have restarted the computer several times. CS6 is all up to date.
I have experimented on several existing documents as well as brand new documents. It makes no difference.
Interestingly, InDesign DOES export the interactive PDF just fine, I can open it and it works. However, before the document finishes processing, InDesign pops up an error message saying that InDesign has stopped working and must shut down. So when I have many PDFs from various files to export, it's a major pain to have indd crash & recover documents every time.
Files crash no matter what the content, I've tried new doc with only a yellow circle. I've tried new doc using only system fonts.
I've never used interactive PDFs before today, so I have no idea if this is a recent problem or not.
Any help greatly appreciated, thanks!!
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Peter, ID is patched to version 8.0.2 & I followed the steps to replace my preference (and confirmed they were deleted) and I'm still having the same issue of ID crashing whenever I export an interactive PDF.
I've tested it on all four of our computers here, and it does it to everyone--so I'm guessing it's something system-wide on our part. I am going to trying uninstalling some plugins that we all have and report back later.

CS6: Exporting to Interactive PDF Freezes

Hi guys, I'm relatively new with InDesign and currently I'm having a problem with exporting to interactive pdf. My version is CS6 8.0.1
I'm drafting a booklet for a school and each page looks something like this:
The picture here shows page 28-29 (top) and 30-31 (bottom). Each of these are linked AI files. These AI files have linked jpegs or psd files in them, with types and basic vector objects.
Then I tried exporting to interactive pdf -->
however, InDesign keeps freezing around these page ranges:
I cannot click cancel nor anything except force quitting InDesign. Tried again, same thing happened. I thought maybe I was too hasty so I went to grab dinner which took about 30 minutes. Walked back into my room, InDesign never completed the export, so I force it to quit again.
After a few times, I'd thought the problem could be with the AI links in page range 30-31 where it keeps getting stuck. I experimented by deleting 4 linked AI files on top of page 30-31:
And now I can export to interactive PDF successfully. I opened up the pdf with Acrobat Reader and everything seems normal.
So I'd figure that there's a problem with one (or more) of the four removed linked AI files. But just to be sure, I tried exporting it again [i]without the 4 linked files[/i]. This time though, the same problem occured - InDesign freezes while exporting PDF and I can't do nothing but force quit the program.
I then tried exporting page 1-29 by itself (the range which seems to be fine) multiple times - no problem. I've exported page 1-29 five successive times in a roll with no problem.
Then I tried exporting page 30-35 (the rest of the book), then here's what confused me even more. I can export it successfully the first time. The second time though, InDesign freezes again.
I then tried exporting page 30-35 over and over to see get a feel of ratio between successful vs failure. The result is erratic. I failed once, then successfully exported page 30-35 three times in a roll. After getting three successful export, I tried exporting the whole book again - to my surprise, this time it went through. Checked the pdf with Acrobat Reader, everything looks fine. Then I tried exporting the whole book once more, and again, it's successul. However, the third time I tried exporting the whole book, the program freezes again.
Now I'm not even sure what to think. What is root of the problem? Is it InDesign itself, or is it the linked AI files toward the end of the book? To give you more information:
- the first 29 pages are not entirely consisted of linked AI files unlike page 30-35. Page 1-29 overall is lighter while Page 30-35 consists off linked AI files that take more space
- I've updated all the links. There's no links with triangle + exclamantion.
- I use iMac 10.8.5 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 16 GB
I can continue working for now since I've successfully exported a copy for my client, but it bounds to happen again. Any advice is appreciated, thank you!

Hi Ankit, thank you for your reply.
I've managed to update InDesign to 10.8.5 from 10.8.1
I downloaded the newest version of AAM, and after installing it, the updates under help menu in InDesign finally notified me that there were updates to be made.
Back on exporting to interactive pdf issue, still doesn't solve the problem.
If I export the whole document it keeps freezing; however, if I split by exporting page 28-31 (pages where it usually get stuck) by itself, then exporting the rest without page 28-31, then it works. I can get around it so it's not a big problem anymore, but I'd like to get answers to why InDesign would behave this way. Was the overall file too big so it froze? Would be nice if in the future I don't run into a similar problem - it takes time for me to export different sections of the book to avoid the program freezing, then it takes more time for me to merge two pdfs into one.
Here's what I've done so far:
- clear InDesign preferences
- disable Extensis plug-in
- migrate the pages to a new document
- update to newest InDesign version
- save as IDML then re-export
- package, then re-export
- first-aid on disk utility on my OSX (no problem found)
- delete all unused styles
- change all the embedded .ai files to .pdf (not editable)
If someone else has any idea, please advice. Thank you

Disable "Export to interactive PDF" default

For some reason, when I click on "Save Book to PDF", the "Export to interactive PDF" comes up automatically. This happened for the first time today, though I have never used that function. The problem is, I need to use my presets, but there is no way to access them. When I try a single file, there is no problem, but the Book just won't let me get to my presets.
     I have a PC, Windows 7, InDesign CS6, and Acrobat 10.1.6.
     I am really in a panic here since I have to get the PDF to the publisher and am stuck...

Yes, the "Export to interactive PDF" pops up without my asking for it, and when I "Cancel," the whole process cancels.
I tried PRINT BOOK and then PDF, but I could not choose the presets that way.
     Oooh, I got it. I missed the little open at the bottom of the SAVE dialogue box. It must have defaulted to that after the latest Acrobat update. Sorry for the stupidity.

PE2 hangs with Windows 7 when creating and exporting files

My computer running WinXP just broke down on me for the 2nd time in 7 years, so I finally decided to upgrade. I put it off because I was afraid of windows 7 having compatibility issues with my old software, and now I'm having trouble with Premiere Elements 2. After it opens up I can cancel and exit but if I try to create a file it stops responding. The tutorial opens up as if there's no problem and it plays on the timeline like normal. When I tried to export that sample video the computer hung for a long time before letting me change the output settings. The file rendered at a normal speed, and the exported video looks fine. Since then I've transferred my old files and have no problem working with them or importing new media to an existing file. It's just creating and exporting that causes problems. I'm using Windows 7 home premium, 64 bit.

Have you tried right-clicking the application icon and setting it to run in XP compatibility mode?
If not you could install a Virtual Machine to run using your existing XP Licence. Or upgrade your W7 to Professional/Ultimate that includes Virtual XP Mode.
Cheers,
Neale
Insanity is hereditary, you get it from your children

Need Help...exporting to interactive pdf and it insists on creating a form...

I can't figure out why when i export my interactive document to pdf, acrobat insists on thinking it is a form. It's not a form. The document consists of various buttons that are stickly for navigation within this long document and for pop-ups.
any help would be greatly appreciated. I am working in InDesign CS5.5 and AdobeX. thank you

The Acrobat team considers it as a feature. It can be turned off in Forms preferences in Acrobat (but you can't set it for someone who may be receiving the PDF file, unfortunately).

InDesign CS6 and CS5.5 Export to Interactive PDF

Hi Guys,
I am having this huge problem when I tried to export 124 pages including links, buttons (show/hide) and video (mp4) to interactive PDF. However when I tried to use CS5.5 to export, it stops at page 98 and prompts an error that say cannot be exported. In CS6, it managed to pass the page 98 but hangs at page 123 till I got to force quit it.
I am able to export in pieces but not as a whole and I believe that it could be a memory or ram issue which is beyond my control.
This is the first time I have encountered this issue. Anyone have solutions for this?
Mark Plunkett

I manage to combine them in Acrobat X and the links worked, I was happy but for a while. When I tried to save the combined PDF, same thing happened, it just keeps optimizing running at 100.3% of the resources. What I have noticed using my Activity Monitor in Mac is that InDesign renders it using 1GB or Ram while Acrobat only uses 380MB of Ram when I have 8GB of ram available in my Mac. More the reason why InDesign should have gone into 64-bit in CS6, but was dissapointed it did not.
I found the cause of the rendering issue, it is not so much about the vector or image size (it does play a part though), it is because I was using too much Show / Hide functions in the Buttons Panel. There seem to be a limit to how much you can use and on how many pages you can have them. I was doing a "Drop down menu" in the PDF with this particular function, each page have about 40 Show/Hide buttons, and there is a total of 124 pages. That is what caused it not to export out successfully, when I removed the buttons, it worked after waiting for 40 minutes of exporting the file, not very happy it took so long, however it got exported.
I think that both Acrobat and InDesign developers should start looking into able to use Scratch Disk or let the users optimize more Ram to the usage of the software.
Forgot to mention that this only worked in CS6, not even close in CS5.5

HELP! CS5.5 Crashes When Exporting as Interactive PDF

I just finished an 85-page document that needs to be exported as an interactive PDF but when I export it, InDesign CS5.5 crashes as it gets to page 84 every single time. This has happened with other CS5.5 documents but when packaging the files instead.
I have already tried resetting the preferences (via the Cmd + Ctrl + Opt + Shift (Mac) method) but to no avail. The document crashed again.
I have also tried saving it as an .idml file and resaving as an .indd file but still, the crash.
Then recently, I received this error message for the very first time: "Adobe InDesign is shutting down. A serious error was detected. Please restart InDesign to recover work in any unsaved InDesign documents."
I saw the "Replace, or "trash" your InDesign preferences" thread but am confused as to what I need to delete vs. rename or move.
I'm using Mac OSX 10.6.8 and running InDesign CS5.5 7.5.0.142.

Please upload the crash report to http://pastebin.com and post a link here.
I saw the "Replace, or "trash" your InDesign preferences" thread but am confused as to what I need to delete vs. rename or move.
It's teh same as the vulcan nerve pinch you tried -- I assume InDesign prompted you to delete preferences and you said OK.
What happens if you create a new document and Pages (panel) > Move Pages pages 1-83 to the new document, and then recreate 84 and 85 by hand? Does it work? Presumably this is document corruption of some sort.

SWF files in InDesign for export as Interactive PDF

I am creating an interactive PDF file which contains a multi-state slide show with navigation buttons that I created in InDesign. Since that will not display and "work" in an interactive PDF I exported a .swf file of the slide show to place in the final InDesign page layout. The interactive PDF works just fine when viewed in Acrobat, but the .swf file of the slide show moves around and changes scale depending on the view scale in Acrobat so that it no longer stays where it was intended in the InDesign layout. I suspect that I exported the .swf slide show from the InDesign file incorrectly but I can't figure out what the peoblem is.

What version of InDesign? Is it fully patched?
There was a bug in the initial release of CS5 that caused this type of behavior but it was fixed in a dot release.
Bob

How to export an interactive pdf from InDesign at a smaller file size.

I have a single page InDesign doc with a side navigation panel to the right of each page. This panel has interactive buttons created in InDesign.
When I export as an interactive pdf, the file size is over 27MB and I need it to be much lower.
I should mention that this doc was made from an original PRINT InDesign doc of facing pages, which was about 55MB.
When making it single pages for the interactive doc, the InDesign file size increased to 105MB.
Can anyone explain this and have any useful tips for saving the pdf down WITH interactivity working?
Many thanks.

Okay - With the 15MB pdf, when I go into the PDF Optimizer dialog box, it's telling me that the Fonts are using 40% and the Acrobat Forms are using 29%.
Anyone know of a way I can reduce either of these???
Many thanks in advance!

Create and Export 'clickable' interactive PDF?

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