InDesign has a few features that make it possible to export an interactive PDF-Formular directly from InDesign.

This CAN save a lot of time when customers require changes on these Files but sadly InDesign is missing out a lot of features that Adobe Acrobat has - even though it'd be a lot easyier to set everything up in InDesign.

So in my opinion the Formular menue needs some improvement and get more functionality (In Acrobat you can define a font VS via InDesign you can't) since more and more customers request Interactive PDF-Forms etc.

It would be valuable to us because we have to edit every file we create after every change just to make those adjustments that can't be done via InDesign yet.

Thanks :)

The new Suffix feature allows three parameters: ^#, ^P and ^S. So far so good.
To make the feature complete I would suggest a couple of other parameters:

^N for page names
Page names like i, ii, iii or a, b, c or 001, 002, 003 would be possible.
Also names like 200 for the first page in a document that starts with 200 for page one.

^X for section prefixes ( max. of 8 characters )

^A for names of Alternate Layouts

^W for width of page

^H for height of page

^Pt , ^mm, ^In etc.pp. for unit ( unit conversion from actual ruler units to desired ones )

That would make exported names possible like that:
DocumentName_150 mm x 297 mm_01.pdf

even if the rulers show different units.

Prefix string would be:
_^H ^mm x ^W ^mm_^#

In addition to all that: Please double or tripple the width of the Suffix editing field. That would be convenient for typing longer strings.

Thanks for consideration!

Uwe Laubender
( ACP )

This is a common issue having looked around the internet for a solution...

PDF export uses the name of the file up until the point where a user changes the name of the PDF before export, then saves the file after the export is done. That changed name is then written into the file and used as this is the expected behaviour.

However, this becomes an issue if you are repurposing the same artwork at different sizes (for example) where you have to manually override the filename on each export.

It would be great if a future InDesign build had a checkbox to PRESERVE THE FILENAME on export thus improving workflow and productivity in busy studios where work is time critical.

With InDesign's form tools, we're missing the ability to add calculations to form fields in InDesign, and that task must be done manually in Acrobat.

To start, I'd like to be able to build simple calcs into my InDesign forms. Example:

And expense report has a form field for each day of the week, and then a total for all of the days. Would like a simple summation calc that I could use for rows of fields or columns of fields. Or both!

Another example: multiplication of quantity times price. Or multiplication of 5% sales tax on an amount field.

These are very common tasks that must currently be done in Acrobat, which is slow! Plus, in a regular workflow, the designer ends up redoing these manual tasks over and over in Acrobat as the form goes through multiple reviews and approvals.

If i could do these in InDesign, they'd be done once and then every PDF would have them already built in.

An export option that would allow the user to select multiple options for exporting their document, in one simple 'Multi-Export' option.

An idea of how this would look could be in the 'Export' dialog box, the user would be able to check a box that would enable 'Multi Export'. This would mean you can choose multiple methods to export in one easy opportunity in the Dialog Box. An example of this would be;

I, the designer or user of InDesign need to send a client a Medium Resolution copy of the file before we hit print, but I also want to export the Print Ready document straight away, along with a Web Quality version to go up on their website.
This would enable a designer or whoever to export (for example) a Proof of a document to send to the client, PLUS a Print Ready Document, PLUS a Web Ready document as an example, all in one go so to speak.

Please see attached document to fully visualise my idea.

Thanks

Tom

For various reasons, I export most of my high-res PDFs with the type outlined. Once a piece is finalized, I'll duplicate any pages in the file, then outline the type before exporting. It's not ideal (it confuses anyone new who comes in and has to work with our files), but it works.

The downfall is that, if there are any links using live type, that won't get outlined. And if it's a multi-page document, we wind up with a LOT of outlining and a ton of pages.

It would be AMAZING if InDesign included the option to outline all type upon export.