specify target in URLs for buttons or hyperlink settings

Report · May 17, 2011

I've been searching for hours on this simple question. How can you specify target="_blank" on a URL?

I have an InDesign CS5 document with many hyperlinks in it. Actually they have been formatted as buttons with a "go to URL' action.

When converting to a PDF file, some browsers open the file in Acrobat Reader, but others open directly in the browser via a plugin. In the latter case, I want the links to open in a new window (or tab) rather than overtaking the window containing the PDF.

I can't believe there isn't an option in InDesign to specify a target on URLs. I don't mind converting all of the buttons to hyperlinks, but neither panel has this option.

I know it can be done via Acrobat, (see http://acrobatusers.com/blogs/tedpadova/opening-pdfs-new-browser-windows) but obviously this means redoing every one of them after having to make any change to the InDesign file.

Can any of you scripting gurus tell me how to do this?

Report · May 17, 2011

Sorry to disappoint you, but you are looking for something that cannot be scripted. The only thing you can set in InDesign is the URL -- nothing else. "target" is something else, hence you cannot set its value.

(Uh. In more technical detail: the text you enter in InDesign as 'the link' of a hyperlink, whether it is with scripting or in the UI dialog, appears in the 'href' attribute in the hyperlink. You cannot set any value for the 'target' attribute, and you cannot add any attribute/value pair you want either. So it's a limitation of what you can and cannot do with InDesign. It's not so much a "simple question", believe it or not, it's more that ID is not designed to handle any random HTML coding.)

Report · May 17, 2011

Wow. Well, thanks for the answer.

It's hard to believe that there is not a way around this. I was hoping there might be a javascript snippet that ID would parse to accomplish this.

Report · May 17, 2011

Are we sure there's no way to use a javascript link?

I would naively think javascript:window.open("http://www.adobe.com/") would work and it almost does -- Acrobat throws up a noisy warning saying that it will execute the javascript if you Allow it, and then it tries but doesn't work (for me, at least).

Now, certainly you can't adjust other attributes of an <A> tag since there is no such tag. But since the PDF can have embedded javascript, you would think you could specify it from InDesign.

(What I suggested above is not the same. It's using a javascript scheme inside a URL field, which would be passed to the browser. But PDFs can have things other than URLs in hyperlinks, such as raw javascript that is executed by the PDF reader. And that's what the acrobatusers link is about.)

I don't use InDesign for interactive stuff, but this certainly does seem like a significant omission.

Wait...what does this have to do with scripting?

So, of course you can fix this by postprocessing your PDF file after you have produced it from InDesign.

Unfortunately, I can't recommend a decent platform for such postprocessing. The last time I tried to script Acrobat Pro it was horrible failure, so I ended up doing it in Java using iText.

Report · May 18, 2011

Maureen,

it should be possible to send over the Acrobat JavaScript code for the postprocessing phase in Acrobat Pro through pdfmarks embedded in EPS files on the InDesign page. Downside is that you need Acrobat Distiller to generate the PDF.

EPS files could be simple text files generated by ExtendScript and placed according to your URLs.
Just a thought…
Not tested.

For code samples of pdfmarks and the whole process look for the PostScript & PDF Bible by Thomas Merz and Olaf Drümmer.
Especially see chapter 11.8 JavaScript with pdfmarks.

Uwe

Report · May 18, 2011

Here a follow-up: indeed it's possible.

The Code for the EPS file would be something like this:

%!PS-Adobe-3.0 EPSF-3.0
%%BoundingBox: 0 0 100 100
%%EndProlog
[ /Rect [ 0 0 100 100 ]
/Action << /Subtype /JavaScript /JS (app.launchURL\("PLACE-YOUR-URL-HERE", true\);) >>
/Subtype /Link
/ANN pdfmark
%%EOF

Of course, BoundingBox and Rect coordinates should be adapted to fit the url text in InDesign. The EPS could be placed as an inline object above etc., etc.
I hope you get the idea.

Uwe

Report · May 18, 2011

It's kind of sick though. And Adobe PDF Library (what InDesign uses) doesn't support pdfmark?

I'm still having trouble getting over the idea that with all this interactive support in ID, there isn't direct support for embedding Javascript. I guess Adobe made a strategic decision to favor Flash? [Except it looks like you can't embed arbitrary swf code either?] Yikes...

Report · May 18, 2011

John,

yes. It's sick…

And support of pdfmarks in PDF Library through InDesign is null. But it seems to me that more and more features show up in the PDF export dialogs.

Just think of PdfMagnificationOptions, openInFullScreen, pdfPageLayout …

And for the URLs with specific hyperlink settings the workflow could be:

export multimedia without the hyperlinks => PDF1

print the EPS (pdfmark with Acrobat JavaScript-hyperlinks) only => PostScript => distill => PDF2
merge PDF1 with PDF2 in Acrobat Pro with the "Import as Layer"-feature

THAT is sick…

Uwe

Report · May 18, 2011

Thanks so much for all of this information! I am going to definitely try testing this. Our team has produced many "eZines" which we just found out have this issue, so we'll have to republish all of them.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Report · May 18, 2011

Hi Uwe,

I think we're on the right track here, but I'm getting the following errors with Distiller:

Distilling: pdftest.indd
Start Time: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at 4:21 PM
Source: /Users/madunlap/Documents/PDFtesting/pdftest.indd
Destination: /Users/madunlap/Documents/PDFtesting/pdftest.pdf
Adobe PDF Settings: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe PDF/Settings/High Quality Print.joboptions
%%[ Error: undefined; OffendingCommand: Ìıÿ FÂΩ1ÔÁ˛t∑ DOCUMENT p ]%%
%%[ Flushing: rest of job (to end-of-file) will be ignored ]%%
%%[ Warning: PostScript error. No PDF file produced. ] %%
Distill Time: 1 seconds (00:00:01)
**** End of Job ****

I'm not sure what the OffendingCommand is that it doesn't like.

Here is my EPS file:

%!PS-Adobe-3.0 EPSF-3.0
%%BoundingBox:0 0 16 16
%%EndProlog

[ /Rect [ 86 141 230 117 ]
/Action << /Subtype /JavaScript /JS (app.launchURL\("http://www.google.com", true\);) >>
/Subtype /Link

/ANN pdfmark

%%EOF

Any clue?

Thanks so much for your help!!

Maureen

Report · May 18, 2011

Distilling: pdftest.indd
Start Time: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at 4:21 PM
Source: /Users/madunlap/Documents/PDFtesting/pdftest.indd
Destination: /Users/madunlap/Documents/PDFtesting/pdftest.pdf
Adobe PDF Settings: /Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe PDF/Settings/High Quality Print.joboptions

It looks like you're trying to distill an INDD file? Acrobat Distiller reads postscript files. So you need to print your INDD file to a PostScript file first.

(Also, you might try testing without the pdfmark EPS file in there and see if that works at all, as a baseline. But I'm pretty sure the above is your problem).

Report · May 18, 2011

Excellent! Yes, you're right. I was not clear on the process.

This works, and the link now opens in a new window.

Now, I'm wondering if there would be a way to set this up to work with any URL in the document, maybe by modifying the javascript, as there are many that would have to have the coordinates figured out for etc.

At least this is a starting point!

Report · May 18, 2011

SOLVED:

I changed the EPS file to a rectangle essentially covering the entire page, then by leaving the URL definition blank, it works for any URL:

%!PS-Adobe-3.0 EPSF-3.0
%%BoundingBox:0 0 16 16
%%EndProlog

[ /Rect [ 0 0 612 792 ]
/Action << /Subtype /JavaScript /JS (app.launchURL\(“”, true\);) >>
/Subtype /Link

/ANN pdfmark

%%EOF

We can now include this EPS file in every eZine and just place it out in the margin where it's outside of the print area.

I am now doing the happy dance!

Report · May 18, 2011

I'm very confused why that would work, but congratulations! [???]

Report · May 18, 2011

Me too! Congrats, Maureen!!

Why is it working? A miracle…
I'd like to see one PDF page of an working example. Can you provide one?

Uwe

Report · May 18, 2011

Please test this example:

http://www.maureendunlap.com/pdftest/pdftest.pdf

After all that joy and exhuberation, a colleague claimed it didn't work for him, so perhaps I was premature in my celebration 😞

Report · May 19, 2011

Anyone have a chance to test this?

It works with Firefox on both Mac and Windows 7. I also just upgraded my W7 browser to IE9 and it works there as well.

Unfortunately does not appear to work with Safari on the Mac.

Report · May 19, 2011

If the file is opened within Safari probably using the PDF plugin, then it will work. If the file is opened in Acrobat, then it will open Firefox to operate. At least it did for me on OSX 10.5.8, Firefox 4.0.1, Safari 5.0.5.

Report · May 19, 2011

Mac/Intel/OS X 10.5.8/Safari 4.0.4:

Did not work clicking in Safari to load the PDF in the browser window (not loaded w Adobe software such as Reader or Acrobat).

Did not work downloading to file and opening in Preview.

Report · Jul 25, 2013

I know this is an older thread, but it still seems to be the only solution that has been reported to work with chrome (the Acrobat Javascript solution actually creates links that Chrome doesn't even recognize)!

However, I'm a little confused: do I still need to do the two exports and then merge the layers, or is Maureen's solution not supposed to require that?

I did a test using Maureen's solution (or at least I think I did :-), but the links don't open in a new window. However, I've never worked with EPS and INDD before so I might be handling the EPS file incorrectly.

Any chance someone who has gotten this to work would be willing to do a little more of a step-by-step instruction?

Thanks!

julie

Report · Jul 26, 2013

However, I'm a little confused: do I still need to do the two exports and then merge the layers, or is Maureen's solution not supposed to require that?

@Julie – it's more than two years, that I suggested this loop hole, but the basic situation did not change.

Here the facts:

1. To transfer any information out of InDesign (all versions) for a button link URL with parameters like "true" for opening the link in a different window or tab (user specific, depends on preferences set by the user), there is no way but using PDFmarks.

2. That implies, that you are using EPS to code a button and PostScript with Distiller to render that button into a functional PDF.

A new way would be to create a HTML object in InDesign (CS6 and above) with decent code for a button and its URL. But I fear, that PDF Export or output to PostScript=>Distiller would not render that into a functional PDF button. Try it yourself…

The tricky part for #2 is getting the right code for the EPS for an existing Hyperlink or Button object in InDesign. Here I already mentioned some sources in my answer #4 above.

Since an EPS could be nothing but an ordinary text file with proper code and a specific suffix, like "*.eps", we theoretically could gather the URL from a Hyperlink in InDesign, also its geometrical dimensions (which is not straightforward) and in a second step create a new text file with PDFmarks, sneak in the URL with all wanted parameters and place that text file as EPS in InDesign at an exact position above the Hyperlink in a special layer (this will come handy later on).

And all that with ExtendScript!

In the next step we have to ask some questions to the InDesign document:

1. Are there any form elements (or other interactive elements) inside that should be rendered to Acrobat forms and PDF interactive objects?

If so: export the PDF to Adobe PDF (Interactive).

Then, of course, all EPS files with our PDFmarks are rendered invalid.

2. To get out of this problem, we could do another thing:
2.1 Set all layers but the one layer with the EPSs to "hidden", print to PostScript, make a PDF with Distiller and:

2.2 Layer the new PDF together with the exported PDF in Acrobat Pro.
Then the two worlds are combined!

I'm sure #2.2 can be scripted as well. But now in JavaScript for Acrobat, which is a totally different beast compared to ExtendScript. At least in my eyes… 😉

If you ask me:

a lot of trouble for a tiny feature like opening a link in a different window in the browser.

Uwe

Report · Jul 26, 2013

Uwe - thanks so much for the detailed explanation - I hadn't quite fully understood the 2 layer part of the solution, which now make sense (although I don't quite see how Maureen's solution worked).

Thanks, too, for the confirmation that it is a lot more trouble than it's worth! (The bottomline for us is that we're trying to use a PDF created in InDesign as a web page, since we have more control over it, but really what our project needs is a web page.)

julie