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remove nonfunctional "button"

terry.ryan
Registered: Sep 27 2007
Posts: 4

How can I get rid of a button-type link created in another program, which the Acrobat program 'sees' but gives the error message "button not supported in this version of Acrobat". The software the original document was created in is not available, so I am seeking any method to remove or hide these buttons and disable the hot spot on them.
thanks,

My Product Information:
Acrobat Standard 7.0.9, Windows
tedpadova
ExpertTeam
Registered: Dec 31 2005
Posts: 848
You have a couple of choices. You can use the Select Object tool and click the button, then press the Delete key. If the button won't delete, open the Button Properties and be cerain that Locked is unchecked.

If the button has a Button Face image or text and you want to retain the appearance, open the Button Properties and in the General tab, chuck Read only.

ted

The author of numerous books on Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator and the Adobe Creative Suite, and an international speaker on Adobe Acrobat, Ted Padova is a well-known PDF guru.

terry.ryan
Registered: Sep 27 2007
Posts: 4
Thanks for the response Ted, but that did not work. The 'Select Object' tool does not do anything to the 'button', and no properties box opens ..the Hand tool does turn into a pointing finger, but no other tool seems to 'see' the button I am trying to get rid of.
I would send an example, but I can't figure out how to do that in this response form.
Terry
tedpadova
ExpertTeam
Registered: Dec 31 2005
Posts: 848
Terry,

This sounds interesting. Why don't you send the PDF to me at: [url=mailto:ted [at] west [dot] net]ted [at] west [dot] net[/url] and let me look it over.ted

The author of numerous books on Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator and the Adobe Creative Suite, and an international speaker on Adobe Acrobat, Ted Padova is a well-known PDF guru.

Arnoud
Registered: Dec 6 2007
Posts: 3
I have the same problem as Terry. Ted's solution works for a normal link but not for a button-type link. I believe that button-type links can only be created, edited or deleted with Acrobat Professional using Forms. Using Acrobat Standard does not allow the removal of such buttons. One way to get around this problem is to print the document to Acrobat. The button is removed but you lose some quality.
tedpadova
ExpertTeam
Registered: Dec 31 2005
Posts: 848
Amoud,

Yes, you are correct. Since Acrobat Standard doesn't support the Forms tools, you can't delete buttons. If you want to delete all form fields your solution is the only way I know of to get rid of them with Acrobat Standard.

ted

The author of numerous books on Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator and the Adobe Creative Suite, and an international speaker on Adobe Acrobat, Ted Padova is a well-known PDF guru.

Arnoud
Registered: Dec 6 2007
Posts: 3
This is alright when deleting a single button but how does one delete duplicate buttons without going to each page and deleting the button as if it was a single button. The same question can be asked wrt the editing of duplicate buttons. How does one ensure that any changes to a button are applied to all the duplicate buttons.
lkassuba
ExpertTeam
Registered: Jun 28 2007
Posts: 3636
The quickest way to delete multiple duplicate buttons is to use the Fields Navigation pane in Acrobat Pro. This will allow you to select multiple fields and then delete them.
When editing duplicate buttons, if they have the exact same name, then the changes are applied to all buttons with that name.

Lori Kassuba is an AUC Expert and Community Manager for AcrobatUsers.com.

tedpadova
ExpertTeam
Registered: Dec 31 2005
Posts: 848
What Lori says is true. However, keep in mind if you create a button and duplicate the button across multiple pages, the buttons appear with names such as button#1, button #2, button#3, etc. Hence the names are no longer identical and you cannot select a single button to change attributes for all buttons.

You can however, select all the buttons with the same root name in the Fields panel and open a context menu on one of the selected buttons and choose Properties. Any action you set in the Properties dialog for the group of selected buttons is applied to all the buttons.

ted

The author of numerous books on Acrobat, Photoshop, Illustrator and the Adobe Creative Suite, and an international speaker on Adobe Acrobat, Ted Padova is a well-known PDF guru.