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MitchellR92
Participant
October 18, 2018
Answered

Possible to create tabs in PDF?

  • October 18, 2018
  • 3 replies
  • 30231 views

Hi!

I wanted to know if it's possible to create tabs in a PDF file, similar to what would be at the bottom of an excel sheet?

I'm hoping to have 3 pages on the 1 page under different tabs, rather than linking around the PDF.

ie. 3 tabs on the left side of multiple pages. Top tab when pressed will show a certain page, but the middle tab can easily just be pressed to go back to previous content.

I've tried to look around for this info, but I feel like I'm going in circles and if it's not possible I'll be looking forever.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Dave__M

This would be a VERY manual process, but you could create the different 'pages' on different layers.  The tabs could be in the artwork itself with an invisible button on top of each.  You would then create actions for the tabs/buttons that would set the different layer's visibility, depending on what tab was clicked.  A lot of work, but I've done it, and the illusion is effective.

Good luck.  I hope this is helpful info.

My best,

Dave

3 replies

Dave__M
Community Expert
Dave__MCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
October 18, 2018

This would be a VERY manual process, but you could create the different 'pages' on different layers.  The tabs could be in the artwork itself with an invisible button on top of each.  You would then create actions for the tabs/buttons that would set the different layer's visibility, depending on what tab was clicked.  A lot of work, but I've done it, and the illusion is effective.

Good luck.  I hope this is helpful info.

My best,

Dave

    M
    MitchellR92Author
    Participant
    October 19, 2018

    Awesome! I've just had a quick look into this and it seems like this is exactly what I was after!

    Thanks for the information Dave.

    Dave__M
    Community Expert
    Dave__MCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 19, 2018

    Glad it is useful info!  Good luck.

    My best,

    Dave

    try67
    Community Expert
    try67Community Expert
    Community Expert
    October 18, 2018

    You can fake it by creating buttons on all three pages that look like tabs

    and jump to another page when clicked.

      M
      MitchellR92Author
      Participant
      October 18, 2018

      try67  wrote

      You can fake it by creating buttons on all three pages that look like tabs

      and jump to another page when clicked.

      As I just explained above to John, this structure wouldn't really work for what I'm looking for

      try67

      John Waller
      Community Expert
      John WallerCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      October 18, 2018

      No tabs in PDF that I'm aware of.

      Have you tried hierarchical Bookmarks?

      Page thumbnails and bookmarks in PDFs, Adobe Acrobat

        M
        MitchellR92Author
        Participant
        October 18, 2018

        The only problem is this:

        Let's say the document is 100 pages, 30 of those pages (page A) will link back to one particular page (page B), but I want to be able to hop back from page B to the same page A the user has come from.

        Tabs are the only feasible idea I had to do this.

        try67
        Community Expert
        try67Community Expert
        Community Expert
        October 18, 2018

        As we said, there's no such thing as tabs in a PDF file. And what you

        described can be done using buttons, or bookmarks, using a script.

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