acrobat pro/pdf: multiple selections in dropdown list

August 9, 2013 7:35 AM

Acrobat help? Would like to create a dropdown list where you can choose multiple selections and then have the non-selected options disappear.

This is a simple form that has a number of items listed, and normally we would have check boxes next to each item. To save space & improve our chances of the document actually being read, we want to eliminate what isn't relevant rather than highlight what is. We also want to make it as simple as possible for the user, as it will be used at remote locations who need to work quickly.

We're using the list box tool in Acrobat Pro & have the list but are stuck there ... probably something to do with the Actions or Selection Change options?

posted by headnsouth to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)

Response by poster: If this can't be done then I could have the form in Word, it's just a pdf is preferable so people don't modify it. Does anyone have a Word macro that can do this?
posted by headnsouth at 12:01 PM on August 9, 2013

You want to eliminate options from the list? What if someone needed to go back and change something and the option they needed was no longer there?

This is very non-standard (and non-user-friendly) form behavior; I'd be very surprised if Acrobat allows for it (at least not without some kind of JavaScript hack).
posted by ella wren at 5:54 PM on August 9, 2013

Response by poster: Yes, I may not have explained it well. I want the printed version to only show the chosen items. Say my company offers 50 things. This would be a followup letter to a customer that says we discussed these things (and then 3 of the 50 are listed) and based on your situation we also recommend these other things (here a few more of the 50 are listed). But with a dropdown the employee doesn't have to key in the chosen items, and with this format the letter doesn't have 50 items listed twice (their eyes would glaze over), just the chosen ones.
posted by headnsouth at 6:15 PM on August 9, 2013

I can think of a couple ways to do this. The first is bar far the simplest - you put a small set of combo boxes, each of which has an identical list of items and each of which includes a blank item. Each form item should be set to print. When your users interact with the form, they will select the, say, four or five items they need from the first four or five combo boxes and then the recipient will be presented with something like this on printing:

Thank you for attending our clinic. We have run your requested tests and you have:
syphillis
herpes
hypochondria
Munchausen's by proxy


Please see a doctor immediately.

The other option I think of, which is more elegant for your users but will suck to implement is that in the margins you put all the checkboxes you want and make then non-printing. Then you put an empty list box in the content region. As check items are clicked on, each runs a JavaScript which, if the item is checked adds it to the listbox set of items and if the item is unchecked, removes it from the listbox set of items. While this is not trivial, it's certainly do-able.
posted by plinth at 4:04 AM on August 10, 2013