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crogers47
Participant
April 6, 2018
Question

Linking to bookmarks created in Word

  • April 6, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 1252 views

I manage a 100+ page document that is created in Word then converted to a PDF and stored on a SharePoint site. We then have a SharePoint web site that has links to a number of sections within the document. I've been creating destinations and using those for the link from the web page (document.pdf#destination), which works fine in all browsers. The problem is that since the base document is in Word, every time there's an update that changes pagination, I have to create a new PDF and recreate all the destinations. (When it's one or two pages with no change in page numbers, I can just swap those pages out.) Still, I keep thinking there has to be an easier way to do this - and creating the entire document in Acrobat is not going to work because there wouldn't be anyone else to maintain it. So, several questions:

  1. 1. Is there a way to copy and paste the destinations from one PDF to another? The views for all of these pages would be maintained between versions.

  1. 2. Is there a way to create an external link that would open the PDF and take you to a bookmark that was originally created in Word (note: not a PDF bookmark)? In other words, I could have a URL something like http://www.mysite.com/document.pdf#timesheet where "timesheet" is a bookmark created and saved in Word prior to creating the PDF.

I'm open to any other ideas. There are more and more requests to create destinations links, but when you constantly have to recreate those destinations with each new PDF, the chances for error increase.

Thanks

    2 replies

    C
    crogers47Author
    Participant
    April 9, 2018

    Thank you very much for your response. I am using Acrobat 11 to create the PDF, and I do have the preferences set to retain Word bookmarks. However, the PDF does not have any destinations listed in the Destinations panel. I know that Acrobat does save the bookmarks, and they will work just fine if you link to them within the document (my manual has a number of those). But I need an external (web) link that will take you to a destination.

      Thom Parker
      Community Expert
      Thom ParkerCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 8, 2018

      So first, if the Word to PDF converter is a good one, it will create PDF destinations from existing Word link destinations.  There's a preference setting for this in the converter installed with Acrobat Pro.  From your text above I have to assume you're already familiar with this mechanism. But I also think there is a way to create named destinations, but I'm not familiar with the details.  You'll need to look closely at how word creates link destinations and the conversion settings for the PDF converter you are using. This might be a way to minimize the post creating work.

      There is no built-in method in Acrobat to automatically create destinations or copy destinations. But there are 3rd party tools for creating destinations. Take a look at www.evermap.com. They make all kinds of cool PDF tools. They might have something for copying destinations.  There are several other PDF tool vendors that provide similar tools.

      It is also possible to create a custom Acrobat plug-in that would automatically create and/or copy destinations in the correct places.  This will be more expensive than buying an existing tool, but it would do exactly what you want.

      And last, there are Acrobat Command line and URL query parameters for opening a PDF to a specific location.

      Here's the reference:

      https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/en/devnet/acrobat/pdfs/pdf_open_parameters.pdf

      Thom Parker - Software Developer at PDFScriptingUse the Acrobat JavaScript Reference early and often
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