Expert: Roy Wilhelm - 2/13/2009

Question
I wanted to create an interactive pdf using InDesign, but someone told me
that you can in no way guarantee your PDF will work on the user's computer
because the compatibility of the PDF across viewers is shaky at best. For
instance, there is little to no support for interactivity with Apple OS X's
"Preview" application, which is the default to open PDFs on all Mac computers.
Support even wanes across Adobe's own Acrobat versions - for instance
some types of interactivity are supported in various versions, but not in
others. This goes with application version number (i.e. v5 vs v6) and version
type (i.e. Acrobat Reader application vs Acrobat Reader plugin inside the web
browser vs Acrobat Pro).  ---This is the first I've heard of any compatibility
problems, do you know if this is true or something to worry about?


Answer
It is a problem. A very disappointing problem, too. I wasn't aware of the issues with browser Reader plugins, but I'm not surprised. I am aware of the lack of some interactivity support with Apple Preview. If I were you, I'd avoid interactive features. I used to have "Next" and "Previous" buttons built into my PDF portfolio but because of the issue with Preview, I have since deleted them. They were a pretty unnecessary interactive feature anyway—people know how to use their arrow keys to flip through PDF docs.

Roy