Setting action buttons in PDF forms Part 2

Setting action buttons in PDF forms Part 2

Specify Acrobat button display properties

  1. 1. If you are not in form editing mode, choose Tools > Prepare Form.

  2. 2. Double-click an existing button, and then click the Options tab in the Button Properties dialog box.
  3. 3. For Layout, choose the type of label display you want. (For information on scaling button icons, see the next procedure.)
  4. 4. For Behavior, specify the display of the button when clicked.
  5. 5. To define the label or icon that appears on the button, do the following:

    • If a label option is selected from the Layout menu, type the text in the Label box.

    • If an icon option is selected from the Layout menu, click Choose Icon, click Browse, and select the file. (Click Clear to remove the selected icon.)

  6. 6. Close all opened dialog boxes, if any. Click the cross icon at the right-end of the Prepare Form toolbar to close the tool.

Button Behavior options

None Keeps the appearance of the button the same.

Push Specifies appearances for the Up, Down, and Rollover states of the mouse. Select an option under State, and then specify a label or icon option:

Up Determines what the button looks like when the mouse button isn’t clicked.

Down Determines what the button looks like when the mouse is clicked on the button, but before it’s released.

Rollover Determines what the button looks like when the pointer is held over the button.

Outline Highlights the button border.

Invert Reverses the dark and light shades of the button.

Scale and position buttons

  1. 1. If you are not in form editing mode, choose Tools > Prepare Form.

  2. 2. Double-click an existing button to open the Button Properties dialog box.

  3. 3. Click the Options tab, select one of the icon options from the Layout menu, and then click Advanced.

    Note

    The Advanced button isn’t available if you choose Label Only from the Layout menu.

  4. 4. Select an option from the When To Scale menu:

    Always Scales the icon as defined regardless of its size in relation to the button size.

    Never Preserves the original size of the icon; the button border crops the icon if it doesn’t fit. If Never is selected, scale options aren’t available.

    Icon Is Too Big Scales the icon as defined only if it is larger than the button.

    Icon Is Too Small Scales the icon as defined only if it is smaller than the button.

  5. 5. From the Scale menu, select whether to scale the icon proportionally. If the icon is scaled nonproportionally, it may be skewed.

  6. 6. To make sure that either the top and bottom or left and right sides of the icon are flush against the button edges, select Fit To Bounds.

  7. 7. To define where the icon is placed inside the button, drag the slider arrows. Icon placement is defined according to the percentage of space preserved between the icon and the left field boundary, and between the icon and the bottom field boundary. The default setting (50, 50) places the icon in the middle of a field. You can click Reset at any time to revert to the default placement setting.

  8. 8. Click OK, and then click Close.

  9. 9. To preview and test the button, click Preview at the right-end of the toolbar. Once you are done, you can either click Edit to return to the Prepare Form tool, or click the cross icon at the right-end of the toolbar to close the tool.

Hide an Acrobat button except during rollover

In some cases, you may want the button area to be invisible until the pointer moves over it. By alternately showing and hiding a button, you can create interesting visual effects in a document. For example, when you move a pointer over a city on a map, a detail map of the city could be displayed, and the detail map could disappear when the pointer moves away from the city.

Showing and hiding icons
Showing and hiding icons

A. Pointer not over button area B. Pointer enters button area C. Pointer exits button area 

  1. 1. If you are not in form editing mode, choose Tools > Prepare Form.

  2. 2. Using the Button tool , drag across the area where you want the pop-up button to appear. For example, if the PDF file contains a map of France, drag across the area where you want a detailed map of Paris to pop up.

  3. 3. Double-click the button, and then click the Options tab and choose Icon Only from the Layout menu.

  4. 4. Choose Push from the Behavior menu, and then choose Rollover from the State list.

  5. 5. Click Choose Icon, and then click Browse. Select the file type from the File Of Type, navigate to the location of the image file, and then double-click the file. In this example, you would select a map of Paris. Click OK to accept the previewed image as the button.

  6. 6. Click the Appearance tab. If needed, deselect Border Color and Fill Color, and then click Close.

  7. 7. If you are in the edit mode, click Preview. The image field you defined appears as the pointer rolls over the button area and disappears when it exits.

    Note

    If you want the image to be larger than the rollover area, or if you want the image to be in a different location than the image button that pops up, use the Show/Hide A Field action. First, you specify an icon for the button that will be shown and hidden. Next, you create a second button that acts as a hot spot when the mouse rolls over it. You do not assign an icon for the appearance of the second button. Instead, you use the Actions tab to show the first button when the pointer enters the second button, and hide the first button when the pointer exits.

  8. 8. Once you are done, you can either click Edit to return to the Prepare Form tool, or click the cross icon at the right-end of the toolbar to close the tool.

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