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_Gloria_Mc_
Participating Frequently
August 24, 2007
Question

Linking to within a PDF using named destinations

  • August 24, 2007
  • 55 replies
  • 50273 views
This topic is moved from the Feature Request forum. Leslie and Errol wrote:
We're talking about make a large manual that consists of many PDF files arranged in a hierarchy. It begins with an HTML file where the user chooses a topic that takes them to a PDF file that serves as a table of contents. The user then chooses a specific topic. Here's the issue. The specific topic is NOT always the first page of the corresponding PDF. Named destinations are set correctly. If you open the TOC PDF in Adobe (and not the IE plugin of Adobe) the links work correctly to the appropriate destinations. If however, you follow the links from the original HTML file, it uses the Adobe plugin inside IE. The links to the destinations DO NOT work in this case - it only takes you to the first page of the PDF on the topic, NOT the specific destination within the document.

The problem is described here:

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/knowledgebase/index.cfm?id=326332

We're looking for a workaround. The new version of Adobe Reader 8 does the same thing. We can't use another browser because the manual is set for mass distribution in a corporate environment and changing the destinations to page number works, but it's endless amounts of data entry.

Any ideas??? We were thinking maybe using an eBook reader that opens PDFs instead of IE?

Your help would be much appreciated.
Leslie and Errol.
    This topic has been closed for replies.

    55 replies

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    _Wayne_Erfling_
    Participant
    May 26, 2008
    Clarification of what I'm trying to do.

    I'm trying to "launch" a (170 page) PDF from another tool via a command-line command or url, so that I can cross-reference various bookmarks and not need to search for them all the time but rather go directly to them.

    Therefore I asked how I, as the user of the PDF file, can VIEW the named destinations with "some tool", so that I can set up the necessary command-line commands or urls, as I am not the author and do not have Acrobat myself.
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    _Aandi_Inston_
    Participating Frequently
    May 26, 2008
    >Therefore I asked how I, as the user of the PDF file, can VIEW the named destinations with "some tool",

    "Some tool" = Adobe Acrobat. No, I know that isn't the answer you
    want.

    Aandi Inston
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    _David_Fass_
    Participating Frequently
    May 26, 2008
    Hi Wayne. You can use Acrobat Standard or Pro (not Reader) to view Named Destinations. Open the document and select 'View' > 'Navigation Panels' > 'Destinations'.

    I don't understand the rest of what you are trying to do from the command line, so I will leave it for someone else to answer.

    -- Dave
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    _Wayne_Erfling_
    Participant
    May 26, 2008
    (empty message so that I can be sure I checked the "Subscribe" checkbox: sorry!)
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    _Wayne_Erfling_
    Participant
    May 26, 2008
    I don't have Acrobat or a PDF authoring tool, but I'd like to create links to specific destinations within PDFs that I have received from vendors.

    How can I view the names of the named destinations within a PDF file? I looked around for a shareware tool or even a paid one but haven't found one yet, and haven't found a way to view the named destinations from Adobe Reader 8.1.

    I've also experienced a problem using "page=" from a Windows command shell command (that is, Internet Explorer is not involved).

    The first time I issue the command with /A pagenum=dd, the document is opened and Reader 8.1 goes to the correct page.

    If I then issue another command with a different page number, while the document is already open, Reader brings its window to the front on the screen but IGNORES page=, instead showing the document at the same position (that is it ONLY brings things to the front and does nothing else).

    This is similar to some of the problems discussed on this thread.

    Can I expect a fix for this problem?

    Thanks!
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    _Gloria_Mc_Author
    Participating Frequently
    March 10, 2008
    Maria,
    Here is a delayed response to your email. Did you find the information earlier in this thread? The html is a standard reference (href) pointing to www.mysite/mypath/mypdf.pdf#mydestination. The "popup" is the Internet Browser displaying the PDF.
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    _MariaMatos-Burns_
    Participant
    February 25, 2008
    Hi John,

    I'm trying to do the samething you are. What is the command being used within the html to have a popup display a specific section within a pdf?

    Thanks in advance for your help.

    Best Regards,
    Maria
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    _Gloria_Mc_Author
    Participating Frequently
    February 14, 2008
    Matthias,
    Thanks much for letting us know how AutoBookmark works. I may try it one day!
    Regards,
    --Gloria
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    _Matthias_S__
    Participant
    February 13, 2008
    One problem I notices when addressing the generated destination names using a URL was the following.

    Destination Names in URLs are not allowed to contain space characters (" "). That's a problem when addressing to headlines that contain them. But the AutoBookmark plug-in provides a feature to rename the bookmarks before generating the destination names.
    (Just as a hint.)
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    _Matthias_S__
    Participant
    February 13, 2008
    Gloria,

    thank you very much for this hint. I have searched for days now to find exactly that kind of tool.
    I tried the Trail Version and what it does is: It creates named destinations out of bookmarks. And because the sections are bookmarked when converting a word document into a pdf file that works fine for me.

    Thx again,
    Matthias

    P.S. Small literal error in Gloria's link. Here is the correct one: http://www.evermap.com/autobookmark.asp
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    _Gloria_Mc_Author
    Participating Frequently
    February 12, 2008
    John,
    I'm not sure which vers. of Acrobat you have, but the prob. you describe exists in Acrobat 7 (7.0.9) and 8.0. Our research/testing indicated that it didn't occur in Acrobat 6 and does not occur in 8.1.1. So if you are running 7 or 8.0, your prob. is an Acrobat bug and you need to upgrade to 8.1.1 or later.

    While there is a slight caching issue with 8.1.1, it is very minor, and not something a user would normally encounter; they typically won't close the browser and <i>immediately</i> click the Help button again. It really is only a second or two and the caching prob. is gone - we don't think our users will be closing/clicking that quickly.

    Matthias,
    There is a product that purports to convert bookmarks to named destinations automatically for you -- check into AutoBookmark plug-in by Evermap. Don't know anything about it personally other than what their website says, "AutoBookmark plug-in provides automation tools that allow quick generation of named destinations from bookmarks and links." See http://www..evermap.com/autobookmark.asp, and let us know what your experience is!
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