copy bookmarked text & paste with additional text

[Anthony32048272pwcn]

This feels very unnecessary and I do not know the purpose of this, but I am working on an interactive PDF generated in InDesign that needs to have several bookmarks that when copied and pasted have some extra text. For example, the document is 3 pages long and there are a few instances of the subheads "IMPORTANT SAFTEY INFORMATION" and "IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION (CONT.)" I have set up functional bookmarks in InDesign as the following: 

Important Safety Information Part 1 of 3

Important Safety Information Continued Part 2 of 3

Important Safety Information Continued Part 3 of 3

The idea is that when someone copies the text "IMPORTANT SAFTEY INFORMATION" on page 1 and they paste it, it pastes/displays as "Important Safety Information Part 1 of 3"

Any ideas on how to achieve this functionality in InDesign or Acrobat? I know it's possible as I have an old PDF from the client that functions as described but I have yet to figure out how it was done. Any help would be extremely appreciated. 

Thank you,

[Barb Binder]

Hi @Anthony32048272pwcn:

Adding content to a bookmark automatically isn't a feature of InDesign or Acrobat, though of course, you can select text in both, add the bookmark and then add the additional text before pressing Enter/Return to complete the bookmark editing. 

Tell us more about the old PDF that does this automatically. I know you said you aren't clear how it works, so can you record a quick video showing us that it does work automatically when you add a bookmark in Acrobat? Maybe we can pick it up from there.

~Barb

[Anthony32048272pwcn]

Hi Barb, 

Thank you for your quick response. I was not able to upload a video directly to this forum but I have uploaded one here to WeTransfer that shows what I am trying to achieve.

Thank you, 

Anthony

[J E L]

@Anthony32048272pwcn, thanks for posting the video and I see exactly what you mean and have no idea how to achieve this, lol. But I want to follow this thread because I'd like to know how to do this. I'm going to check some ideas in both InDesign and Acrobat, and maybe I'll stumble upon something. But if anyone knows, it's going to be @Barb Binder!

[Barb Binder]

Ha! Don't be so sure about that, @J E L!

But @Anthony32048272pwcn, what is this? Is it a plug-in?

~Barb

[Anthony32048272pwcn]

No, I do not have any acrobat plug-ins... 

[Barb Binder]

Ok, @Anthony32048272pwcn: this is definitely an Acrobat question and not InDesign, so I'm going to move this over to the Acrobat forum so that @J E L and I can continue to follow the discussion. 

~Barb

[Anthony32048272pwcn]

Thank you! 

[J E L]

@Barb Binder, I was thinking this might have to do with creating interactive bookmarks in InDesign, where you could create the link name in a separate text field from the text on the page (see where I've bolded the text below). Should I test it, or am I in the totally wrong place?

Interactive bookmarks in InDesign allow you to create a table of contents or index for your document, enabling readers to navigate to specific pages or sections with ease. Here’s a comprehensive overview of the process:
1. Create Bookmarks

• Go to Window > Interactive > Bookmarks to access the Bookmarks panel.
• Select the text or object you want to bookmark.
• Click the Create New Bookmark icon at the bottom of the panel.
• Name your bookmark and optionally add a description.

2. Assign Destinations

• Ensure you have created bookmarks for all sections or pages you want to link to.
• In the Buttons and Forms panel, create buttons or links that will serve as destinations for your bookmarks.
• Set the Destination property for each button or link to the corresponding bookmark.

3. Export as Interactive PDF

• Go to File > Export > Adobe PDF (Interactive).
• In the export options, ensure Bookmarks is enabled.
• Your interactive PDF will include hyperlinked bookmarks that allow readers to navigate to specific pages or sections.

[try67]

Interesting.

It's difficult to say for sure without seeing the actual file, but I believe what is used there is the "Alt" or "ActualText" tags, which are meant to provide additional information for accessibility purposes, so if a blind persons uses read-out loud software, for example, they will know it's part 1 of 3, even though it's not written on the actual page itself.

This has nothing to do with the bookmarks, by the way. You can delete them and it will probably work the same.

I'm sure this type of tag can be defined in InDesign, but you'll need to ask in the ID forum how to do that.

Another option is to do it in Acrobat, via the Accessibility Tags panel on the left, although I wasn't able to set it properly when I tried doing it right now, but that might be my mistake.

[try67]

Addendum: If your goal is that it does that when the user copies the text from the Bookmarks pane, that's not possible. This kind of "alternative text" only exist for regular text on the page, not for bookmarks.

[Anthony32048272pwcn]

hmm I have used Alt text several times but I was under the impression that it was for images only and that it could not be applied to text? I did just try applying alt text to a text box in InDesign and it did not work, but perhaps I am doing it wrong.

[try67 · Accepted solution]

There are two types of tags, "ALT" that is meant for images and "ActualText" which is meant to be used for text.

[Anthony32048272pwcn]

ah yes I see that now in acrobat, thank you! going to play around with that and report back

[Anthony32048272pwcn]

Thank you @try67 that was the trick! I had to go into the tag and input the text into Actual Text

[Bernd Alheit]

Can you share the old PDF?

[Anthony32048272pwcn]

no, unfortunately I cannot share any files