How do I retain bookmarks in new PDF when printing from a PDF with bookmarks?

[jamesvs1]

How do I retain bookmarks in new PDF when printing from a PDF with bookmarks?  I have a 2,500 page PDF with bookmarks that I have added a footer to for page numbering.  When I print from the original PDF with the bookmarks and the "editable" page numbering in the footer to "lock-in" the footer page numbering into a new PDF file, all the bookmarks do not appear in the new PDF file.  Do I need to toggle something during the printing process to replicate the bookmarks in the new PDF file?

[Test Screen Name]

You don't. While printing from Acrobat to PDF is recommended all over the internet, it's actually a terrible idea for all sorts of reasons. So if you can describe in detail why you want to, we may be able to suggest a way to avoid the need altogether.

[jamesvs1]

Thank you for offering an alternative.  We "re-print to PDF" so that no information in the PDF is editable by all of the end users.  We cannot put security locks on the file, our end user client does not permit that approach.

[Test Screen Name]

Printing to PDF is not a security measure; things you could edit in Acrobat Pro DC before, you can edit afterwards with equal convenience. But it does stop form fields from being fillable; there are other ways to do this though. Is it form fields you have?

[jamesvs1]

Thank you again.  The only "live" text data in the PDF that we are trying to "lock" is the page numbering in the footer, and a few text boxes that also include manual page numbering in some sub-sections of the PDF.

[matiaspage-A03q7K]

Hello, I ended up having to use the Print to PDF function because it was the only solution I could find to fix a mismatch in page sizes in my book.

If you open my book in a browser (Chrome, firefox) the cover page is GIGANTIC compared to the rest of the pages.

So far I found no other solution other than printing to PDF. Which breaks the bookmarks that I carefully created...

Do you know how to fix this?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you

[matiaspage-A03q7K]

[try67]

If you have Acrobat Pro DC you can scale the page using the Preflight tool.

[matiaspage-A03q7K]

Oh I see. I have Acrobat Pro 11. Not Pro DC. Upgrading might be the solution...

[try67]

Yes, that would be one solution. Another is to use a script, like this (paid-for) one I've created, which will work in your version: Custom-made Adobe Scripts: Acrobat -- Scale PDF Pages

[matiaspage-A03q7K · Accepted solution]

SOLVED!

Finally. After months of frustration. Thanks for all the replies guys.

Solution:

1. Create your book and make it PDF with your precious bookmarks.

2. Create your image in the same aspect ratio as the pages of the book.

3. Right click on that image file (the cover of your book), and click "convert to Adobe PDF".

4. Now, open that file that you just created, with the cover only.

5. Select Print to PDF and in the settings select FIT and the page size to fit the image to (in my case it was 8.5x11 inches).

6. Open your book (with the still-missing cover)

6. Go to tools and add the PDF with the cover that you just created. Now with the correct page size.

Cheers and thank you very much.

[Test Screen Name]

Remake the cover page and replace it (Replace pages function). Bookmarks unaffected.

[matiaspage-A03q7K]

Thank you but this did not work.

The pages are in Legal size (8.5inches x 11 inches) which according to google is 2550x3300 pixels.

I created the cover with that resolution and the end effect is the same (as in the picture).

When I use "print to PDF" cover and pages are all the same size, like magic.

It's frustrating honestly.

[Test Screen Name]

PDF sizes are never measured in pixels. So ignore any app which tells you a size in pixels. What matters is the size in inches. Compare the size in inches of the cover and the other pages - to get the size in inches hover in the bottom left of the page in Acrobat.

[gary_sc]

Well the pixel size does make a difference depending on what tools are being used to create the PDF.

A document that is 300 pixels wide will be 1" wide if printed at 300 pixels per inch. A document that is 2550 pixels wide printed at 72 ppi (the default screen size) will be 35.4 inches wide.

Matiaspage, what application are you using to create the PDF and how are you doing that? Are you using anything within Google to print/create your PDF?

[matiaspage-A03q7K]

Gary. Thank you for taking the time to reply.

Yes. That was an issue. I'm constantly learning this! I'm not an expert by any means.

I didn't stop and think that the image I had created was 2550x3300px but with 120DPI!! So the resulting page was 30+ inches in size...

I still like to create a big image (in case I want to use it for other things) and do the steps that I described above. As it saves me the time to calculate sizes and DPI and inches... Etc.

Thank you very much.

[gary_sc]

Hi Matiaspage,

No problem, glad to help.

For information sake, the resolution of an image changes depending on where one is viewing. Too much resolution will increase the storage size of the image but too little will make the image look soft (or worse, pixelated). Also, the mechanism doing the printing needs to be considered.

The lowest resolution that you can get away with is for billboards. They are seen at a distance and you can use as low as 72 dpi. For stuff that will be printed with a household inkjet, anything from 180-220 is fine. For high quality books and other non-shiny paper, 300 is recommended. For shiny paper (e.g., magazines), up to 600 dpi is recommended. For art prints, the person who created the piece wants 10 gazillion dpi! ;>)

As Test Screen Name said, the pixel sizes is not relevant to create a PDF. The pixel dimension is VERY critical if you are making web pages as the web does not use pixels per inch, each pixel of an image is used for each pixel of your monitor. Thus, if your monitor is 2550 pixels wide, if you viewed your book cover at 100% it would fill the width of your screen.

The good news is that after all this you're further along in this whole thing and will soon be teaching it all.