Is there a way to "Go Back" after using a cross-reference?

[#1]

I'm writing some monster (500-1000 page) documents right now and using a ton of cross-references. This may be more of a PDF issue than a Frame issue, but is there a way to embed a button or funcitonthat allows users to "go back" after using a cross-reference? I find myself saying "Doh!" a lot when landing on page 17 and trying to remember which page in the 400s I came from. I imagine my audience will too.

Thanks a million, community, and happy weekend!
Meredith

[#2]

I'm writing some monster (500-1000 page) documents right now and using a ton of cross-references. This may be more of a PDF issue than a Frame issue, but is there a way to embed a button or funcitonthat allows users to "go back" after using a cross-reference? I find myself saying "Doh!" a lot when landing on page 17 and trying to remember which page in the 400s I came from. I imagine my audience will too.

Thanks a million, community, and happy weekend!
Meredith

[#3]

Meredith,

this function is built directly into Acrobat: Just enable the respective buttons in the Acrobat toolbar.

Bernd

[#4]

Where is that respective tool?

[#5]

Hi josephw1448933:

It will be on the toolbar in Acrobat. Follow the steps in my initial response (above) to add it, because it is not there as a default.

~Barb

[#6]

And not to forget the keyboard: In Acrobat you can use ALT+arrow-left to go back to the previous location, but only if you jumped to the new location, not  by scrolling...

[#7]

Meredith:

My additional two cents:

Yes, Acrobat has a back button, but it's not showing by default. One of the first things I teach in an Acrobat class is how to show the page navigation buttons. My observation is that almost none of my students customize the toolbar before coming to class, so if you are going to use the built in button, be prepared to explain how to how to show it.

The screen shots are from Reader DC, it's the same in Acrobat DC and the last few versions:

Default toolbar:

Right click the toolbar > Show Page Navigation Tools > Previous View:

This is after showing All Page Navigation tools (which includes back and forward):

You can build these buttons into FrameMaker (I teach this in my advanced class) but as Bernd said, because it's in the Acrobat/Reader interface, I use it more as a way to practice working with hyperlinks in FrameMaker—unless someone is planning on running the PDF Full Screen—in which case I recommend building the page navigation hyperlinks into the file.

Here is how to add the link to jump back in FrameMaker. You can add it over a button (as in my image directly above) or to text.

Final note: when you test the back button in FrameMaker, it only returns to the correct page if the x-ref was in the same file. When you make your book into a PDF that combines the chapters, then it works as expected.

~Barb

[#8]

How does one access the drop down showing in the screen snap above? I'm running unstructured FrameMaker 2017, and I see no Hypertext choice on any tool bar or drop down menu.

[#9]

It's in with the Markers panel in FM12; not sure where it's migrated to in FM2017, but you should be able to use the new "find commands" feature to just start typing "hypertext" and it should jump to it.

[#10]

Insert>Hypertext