How to Selectively Unlink Entries in the Table of Contents in InDesign

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
September 16, 2024
3 replies
658 views

I was curious if there was a way to "unlink" certain elements in the table of contents. For example, I am using the TOC to set up my table of contents and have the elements I want linked shown up in a highlighted yellow, and the ones that are not linked are in white without pages numbers. (The ones in white are hidden text on a page)

When I export to a PDF, they are all linked. Is there a way to turn off for a specific paragraph style or somewhere in the TOC to tell it to NOT link for those not hightlighted?

My client wants the table of contents to include all these standards in order, with the ones in yellow going to her specific document as an interactive PDF. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

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Robert at ID-Tasker

Legend

@Diane25010611tjfy

TOC is just an automatically generated Story - you can either manually type new text - or simple script could "convert" specified entries into "regular" text.

Of course, you would've to re-run script after each TOC update.

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

I think the switch at the More Options part of the ToC Dialog box "Make PDF Bookmarks" is all or nothing. I just made a similar ToC with multiple level entries. Even though the 1st level listed no page number after, nonetheless it was clickable in the PDF. You might have to edit the PDF file in Acrobat Pro to prune away what you do not want.

Mike Witherell

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

Yeah, you're right. If it's in the TOC, it gets linked. I was thinking there was more granularity in how the styles were managed.

It's not too-too difficult to edit the PDF by right-clicking on each TOC entry and selecting "Delete Link." Just tedious and, of course, a one-time fix that will have to be repeated on each iteration.

Mike Witherell

Community Expert

You have iterations? <shudder>

Mike Witherell

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

About the only way you can control entries in a TOC is with the styles. If, for example, you want to include most but not all HEADING 1's, you'll have to create a secondary/child style — so HEADING 1 is included, but the otherwise identical HEADING 1 notoc is not. Both styles can be identical in every other respect, and keeping them in a parent/child hierarchy means you can easily update the whole set by changing the parent style.

When you go through the document assigning the various alternates, it can help to use a color tag (e.g. make notoc magenta) so you can distinguish them as you work.

Does that point you in the right direction?

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