How Do I Create PDF Links That Open In New Window By Default

[ab1301]

I am creating an e-brief for a legal filing.  I am hyperlinking the citations in the brief to the evidence, so that clicking on the link opens a pdf file to the page of the evidence that is being cited.  I do so by highlighting the citation, right clicking "Create Link..." and then selecting "Go to a page view" in Link Action.  I then go to the pdf with the evidence, find the cited page, and click "Set Link."  This works great, except that the default behavior for the "Open in:" property of the link is "Window set by user preference."  The default behavior in Acrobat is to open links in the same window.  If the judge has not changed that setting in his version of Acrobat, that means that every time he clicks on a link, it will close the brief, and open the evidence in its place, which is definitely NOT the desired behavior in this use case.  Now, I could install all the links, then go back and edit each link individually to change the "Open in:" property to "New window," which is the desired behavior.  However, it is several clicks to even get to that setting in the Edit Link dialogue, and I have a couple hundred citations, so that would take forever. 

So here is my question: is there any way to either (a) change the default behavior that is assigned when the link is created so that the  "New window" property is set automatically every time a link is created? or (b) bulk change all of the links in the entire document to select the "New window" property?  If so, how?  (Please don't suggest that I simply inform the Judge how to change his Acrobat settings, as that is not helpful.  The judge may or may not be tech savy, and the point is to make this as easy and automatic for him as possible.)

[try67]

A) Unfortunately, no.

B) Yes, but not from within Acrobat (unless it's possible with a plugin, which I'm not sure about).

It requires using an external tool that can modify PDF files at a lower level than what Acrobat offers.

I've developed such a (paid-for) tool and if you're interested you can get it here:

https://www.try67.com/tool/convert-all-links-in-a-pdf-to-open-in-new-window

[JR Boulay]

You just have to place this script in your document as a "Document level script":

app.openInPlace = false;

[try67]

Just be aware that this changes the actual application settings, not just for your own file but for all other files, too.

Some users might not like that you do that without informing them of this change. Also, it won't work if JS is disabled, for example.

[JR Boulay]

If you don't want to change the user's application settings you must use this as a "Document Level Script" :

var a = app.openInPlace;
app.openInPlace = false;

And use this in the "Doc will close" action to revert to the previous user's setting:
app.openInPlace = a;