• Global community
    • Language:
      • Deutsch
      • English
      • Español
      • Français
      • Português
  • 日本語コミュニティ
    Dedicated community for Japanese speakers
  • 한국 커뮤니티
    Dedicated community for Korean speakers
Exit
0

How can links between docs be restored after compiling into an Indesign book (.indb)?

Explorer ,
Jan 14, 2025 Jan 14, 2025

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Hello Indesign gurus,

I have several Indesign docs with hyperlinks linking to pages between them. The links work in the source docs -- i.e. they jump to the right page in a different doc.

But after compiling those docs together into an InDesign book and exporting to interactive PDF, those links no longer work (they default to the cover page).  Hyperlinks to URLs continue to work.

There are a lot of links; is there a way to restore their function from the source doc or in the creation of the book PDF?

 

Specs: Mac OS Sequoia. 15.1.1; InDesign v20.0.1

 

Many thanks in advance for help in this urgent matter!

Angela

 

 

TOPICS
Bug , EPUB , Publish online

Views

119

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines

correct answers 1 Correct answer

New Here , Jan 14, 2025 Jan 14, 2025

InDesign has a built-in Cross-Reference feature that allows you to link content between documents within a book.
To create a cross-reference:
Open the source document and select the text or object to be linked.
Go to Window > Type & Tables > Cross-References to open the Cross-References panel.
Click the + icon to create a new cross-reference.
In the dialog box, choose the target document and the specific text anchor or page you want to link to.
Cross-references automatically update when the book is co

...

Votes

Translate

Translate
Community Expert ,
Jan 14, 2025 Jan 14, 2025

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

The links to Pages should be done after being compiled into the InDesign book - the InDesign Book file shouldn't be an after thought, it should be compiled as the chapters are compiled and all chapters added to the book file before linking. 

 

You haven't done this - so maybe there's a clever script out there that can fix it all. 

 

This might work

https://github.com/raphaelmatto/indesign

 

 

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Jan 15, 2025 Jan 15, 2025

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Thanks for the advice & links, Eugene.
I wasn't able to copy the script over to try it out.
But I did discover through other tech support that the links needed to be re-routed to the updated (but same named) docs.  It was laborious, but the (partial) book does cross-link now. There are still a few isolated glitches to iron out, but function has been restored for the most part.
For anyone having the same issue, review the link path to make sure the destination is going to the correct file if you have more than 1 copy of those files (which I do, due to older versions - in a separate folder -  and not being able to change the filename due to a complex numbering system across all the sections) 

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Jan 15, 2025 Jan 15, 2025

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

LATEST
// Author: Raphael Matto
// Date: Dec 15, 2023
// This script updates paths for moved InDesign Documents in an InDesign Book.
// Tested on MacOs, might work on Windows.

main();

function main() {

    // If there are no Books open, app.activeBook fails.
    try {
        var book = app.activeBook;
    } catch(e) {
        alert(e);
        exit();
    }

    alert("In the next dialog, select the folder where you've moved the Book's Document files to.")

    var newRoot = Folder.selectDialog("New Documents folder");

    if (!newRoot) {
        alert("No folder selected, exiting ...");
        exit();
    }

    var confirmed = confirm(
        "This script will replace all missing Document paths with Document paths that exist at " +
        newRoot + " for the Book " + book.name + "." + " Do you want to continue?", true, "Please confirm");
    if (!confirmed) {
        exit();
    }

    var count = 0;

    for (var i = 0; i < book.bookContents.length; i++) {
        var doc = book.bookContents[i];

        if (!new File(doc.fullName).exists) {
            newPath = new File(newRoot.fsName + "/" + doc.name);

            if (newPath.exists) {
                doc.replace(newPath);
                count++;
            } else {
                alert(newPath + " does not exist, skipping ...")
            }
        }
    }

    alert("Paths updated for " + count + " Documents in " + book.name + ".")
}

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
New Here ,
Jan 14, 2025 Jan 14, 2025

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

InDesign has a built-in Cross-Reference feature that allows you to link content between documents within a book.
To create a cross-reference:
Open the source document and select the text or object to be linked.
Go to Window > Type & Tables > Cross-References to open the Cross-References panel.
Click the + icon to create a new cross-reference.
In the dialog box, choose the target document and the specific text anchor or page you want to link to.
Cross-references automatically update when the book is compiled or when changes are made to the documents. 

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Jan 15, 2025 Jan 15, 2025

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Thanks Vegaprintuk,
I will incorporate cross-references for the next update of this doc.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Jan 15, 2025 Jan 15, 2025

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

For links to work in a print PDF you must check Include hypermarks, include bookmarks, and, entirely counter-intuitively, Create tagged PDF.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Explorer ,
Jan 15, 2025 Jan 15, 2025

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Thanks for responding Peter,  all of your suggestions have been checked off already. 

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines