PDF actions overview

Actions add interactivity to PDFs, helping you guide users through information, automate behaviors, or respond to events within the document. Understanding actions, their timing, and their triggers helps you control navigation, media playback, forms, and page interactions.

Actions

Actions in a PDF define responses to events like bookmark selection or page opening. Multiple actions can trigger in sequence. The Locked option prevents unwanted edits to an action after it's configured.

Action types

• Execute a menu item: Runs a chosen menu command.
• Go to a 3D/Multimedia view: Switches to a specific 3D view.
• Go to a page view: Navigates to a selected destination in the same or another PDF.
• Import form data: Loads form data from another file into the current form.
• Multimedia Operation (Acrobat 9 and later): Performs an action on a multimedia object, such as playing audio.
• Open a file: Launches a specified file, requiring the appropriate application.
• Open a web link: Opens a URL, including http, ftp, or mailto links.
• Play a sound: Plays an embedded audio file.
• Play media (Acrobat 5 compatible): Plays embedded QuickTime or AVI video compatible with Acrobat 5.
• Play media (Acrobat 6 and Later Compatible): Plays embedded video compatible with Acrobat 6 and later.
• Read an article: Follows an article thread within a PDF.
• Reset a form: Clears specified fields in a form.
• Run a JavaScript: Executes a JavaScript script.
• Set layer visibility: Sets the visibility state of PDF layers.
• Show/Hide a field: Toggles the visibility of form fields.
• Submit a form: Sends form data to a specified URL.

Triggers

Triggers control when actions run. Different PDF elements support different triggers. Triggers are especially common with media clips and form fields, but don't apply to links or bookmarks.

Form and media triggers

• Mouse Up: Activates after a mouse button is released.
• Mouse Down: Activates when a mouse button is pressed.
• Mouse Enter: Activates when the pointer enters a field or play area.
• Mouse Exit: Activates when the pointer leaves a field or play area.
• On Focus (media only): Activates when the element gains focus through mouse or keyboard navigation.
• On Blur (media only): Activates when focus shifts away from the element.
• Page Visible: Activates when the page becomes visible in multi‑page layouts.
• Page Invisible: Activates when the page is no longer visible.
• Page Enter: Activates when the page becomes the current page.
• Page Exit: Activates when the user navigates away.