Automatically updating pdf packages from a master pdf

Question

Does anyone know if there's a way to create a pdf that automatically pulls select pages from a separate master pdf, so that it always has the most recent updates? I'll explain my situation:

At our architecture firm, we have a master portfolio pdf that contains a large number of our projects, all on single pages. We also have several focused sub-portfolio pdfs that break projects down into categories, like building type, number of stories, etc. So let's say I update 20 pages in that master pdf; well, then I have to go and manually update those 20 pages in all the focused sub-portfolio packages they might happen to be in, which becomes super time-consuming.

So an ideal solution would be a way to create these focused sub-portfolios that just pull certain pages from the master, then whenever I change the master, the sub-portfolios would automatically populate with the updated pages.

One other kicker (of course) is that the pages also contain hyperlinks to our website. I tried using inDesign to cultivate the sub-portfolios by placing the desired pdf pages and re-exporting, however that kills the hyperlinks.

Any suggestions? I tried Adobe’s help chat, but was told that this feature unfortunately doesn’t exist. Thanks for reading!

try67 · Answer

I can think of two ways of achieving it:

- Embedding a script in the PDF the imports pages to it from the primary file when it is opened.

This will require the primary file to be located in a known (and fixed) location, accessible to all users, as well as installing a script file of the machine of each user. Also, they must have Acrobat for it to work, not just the free Reader.

- Using a link to the primary file instead of actually embedding it in the sub-file. Not sure if that works for you, but it doesn't require installing any script files, and can be used in the free Reader.

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