Bookmarks not working after SaveAs

Question

Hi,

I’m experiencing an issue with bookmarks after performing a "Save As" operation in Adobe Acrobat and wanted to understand if this is expected behavior or a known limitation.

Scenario:

- I generate a PDF file, and the bookmarks work correctly.

- If I download/open the same PDF directly in Adobe Acrobat, the bookmarks continue to work as expected.

- However, when I perform a "Save As" on this PDF and reopen the saved file, the bookmarks are still visible in the bookmarks pane but no longer function (they don’t navigate to the intended pages).

Observations:

- This issue seems specifically tied to the "Save As" operation.

Questions:

1. During a "Save As" operation, does Acrobat rebuild or modify the internal bookmark destination references?

2. Is it expected that bookmark destinations (e.g., named destinations or object references) might be reset or broken during this process?

3. Are there any recommended approaches to preserve bookmark functionality when saving a copy of a PDF?

Any insights into what happens internally during "Save As" would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Anand

Thom Parker · Accepted Answer

The problem with this document is that the bookmark destination is poorly formed. It only works because Acrobat is very forgiving with non-spec variations in the internal structure. But unfortunately the SaveAs operation is not as forgiving and must be cleaning up internal structure violations.

I would not have believed that iText would be creating this particular issue. It’s a great product with very dedicated developers. To that end I looked up the functions that are used to created destinations in the iText reference. There are ones that use the page object and ones that use the page number. I suspect it is the ones that use the page number that is creating the poorly formed destination. It’s possible that whoever wrote the iText program you are using, used this function (i.e., they were too lazy to use the correct function). I would suggest contacting the developer and get them to change the code.

JR Boulay · Answer

Questions:1. During a "Save As" operation, does Acrobat rebuild or modify the internal bookmark destination references?2. Is it expected that bookmark destinations (e.g., named destinations or object references) might be reset or broken during this process?3. Are there any recommended approaches to preserve bookmark functionality when saving a copy of a PDF? Answers:NoNoNoThis form is oddly designed :It’s unclear what the fields at the top and bottom of the page are for.The checkboxes should be “checkbox” fields, not text fields.The series of single-line text fields would be better replaced by a single multi-line text field.The numeric fields should be formatted as “number” fields; as it stands, you can enter any value in them....

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