Download The Power of PDF Bookmarks

The Power of
PDF Bookmarks
Shlomo Perets
http://www.microtype.com
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This presentation does not include
Acrobat 6-specific information
Note re Acrobat 6
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Specific updates related to bookmarks
will be made available, as needed,
at www.microtype.com/Acro6-Bmks.html
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Can provide a constant conceptual
display of document structure and
current location in the document
Enable continuous easy access to
specific locations in current PDF
Why bookmarks?
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Do not complicate page layout/
print aspects; low storage requirements
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Use add-ons to “define once, use many”
Maximize the use of bookmarking
capabilities of authoring applications
(e.g. InDesign, PageMaker, FrameMaker,
Word+PDFMaker)
Automation
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Relying on manual Acrobat operations
is not realistic
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Should have a unique beginning,
as bookmark panel may be narrow
Has to be meaningful out of context
Bookmark text
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Potential Unicode support
Useful for many languages
Special symbols (e.g. Greek letters)
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O
O
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Unicode is not fully supported because
Acrobat/Reader relies on system font
to display bookmarks
Unicode support
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In addition, there are some glitches
where the presence of a specific
character “disturbs” other characters
in the same bookmark
Optional visual properties (5.0x)
Web destinations
Feedback destination (e-mail)
Cross-file links
Items of special importance (e.g. what’s new,
changed/updated in this release)
Color and font style (plain, italic, bold,
bold italic) apply to entire bookmark –
improve perception of hierarchy and/or
emphasize specific bookmarks:
O
O
O
O
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Major headings
Target locations in PDFs
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Key navigational pages, such as:
Table of contents (TOC)
Index
List of figures
List of tables
List of equations
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O
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O
Bookmarks do not replace TOC
Bookmarks vs. TOC
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O
Order of bookmarks is not necessarily
identical to entries in TOC
(e.g. index at top)
TOC is a single location where full
document hierarchy is available
TOC may be printed
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Level of detail may be different
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These do not replace a list of figures,
list of tables, etc.
Recommended: direct bookmarks
for figures, tables or equations –
grouped together (and not interspersed
under headings)
Handling of figures, tables
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Bookmarks can point to specific
areas in figures
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Similar in concept to index,
sorted alphabetically
Bookmarks to inline items
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Quick access to new/revised features
(possibly in combination with notes)
or locations within paragraphs
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As a general guideline, PDF should be
set to open with bookmark pane visible
Viewing setup
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Impact of page layout (single page/
continuous) on specific destinations
within a page
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Maintaining a consistent order of crossfile bookmarks enhances orientation
Point to other chapters, TOC, Index –
when books are converted to separate
PDFs
Cross-file bookmarks
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“Home” bookmark to “main menu” or
navigation map (better than embedding
these in each PDF)
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All Acrobat actions
Activate multimedia
“Structured” bookmarks: print section
Launch external text or source files
E-mail links
Web links
Additional uses for bookmarks
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O
O
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Product info
Documentation/updates
Support
Bookmarks to web pages
Web bookmarks
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Bookmarks to web search pages with
pre-defined queries
O http://www.google.com/
search?hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&q=Acrobat+interactivity
O http://microsoft.com/msdownload/sapi/
engine10.asp?submit9=MSTTS
Will launch web browser first, then
e-mail client, with e-mail message
loaded
E-mail addresses ™
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Can specify values of default fields:
?to=
?subject=
?cc=
?body=
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O
O
O
O
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%20 – space
%21 – exclamation mark
%2c – comma
%250d – newline (in body of message)
To indicate special characters, use:
E-mail addresses š
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O
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mailto:[email protected]
?subject=XYZ%20Installation%20Manual
?body=First%20Line%250dSecond%20Line
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Feedb@ck
[email protected]
[email protected]
Bookmark text can indicate “Feedback”,
“Report...”, “Suggest...” or simply show
the e-mail address if self-explanatory:
E-mail addresses ›
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Body of message can be HTML-coded
for better visual control (headings, lists)
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O
Source/data files
Boiler-plate (template) files
Quick access to commonly-used files:
Launch external files
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Security message shown;
associated application will be
started with files loaded
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Bookmarks to sound files embedded
in PDF
Multimedia ™
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Local files
Files stored in web sites (Acrobat 5)
Bookmarks to referenced movie/sound
files
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O
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Movie first placed as a very small,
invisible movie without a poster
(can be placed outside page area)
Multimedia š
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“Use Floating Window” so that the
movie window is independent of
movie coordinates
Multimedia ›
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Choose a “Play Once, Stay Open” mode
(Escape closes) – recommended since
movies are not cached
With web-based movies:
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Bookmark text can include a “web
movie” phrase, or an alert box may
be displayed to indicate download
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“New Bookmarks from Structure”
command in a structured/tagged PDF
Structured bookmarks
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Print a section (Acrobat Reader)
Print, delete, extract or move a section
(Acrobat)
If each new section starts in a new
page, structured bookmarks can be
right-clicked to
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O
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O
Bookmarks can have multiple actions
Execute Menu Action – e.g. Print,
View settings, Next/Previous Page,
Preferences
Show/hide fields
JavaScript
Entire range of Acrobat actions
supported in bookmarks
Acrobat actions
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Search action (standard or modified
functionality)
Search
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Clicking bookmarks
Selecting from a list (popup menu)
Pointing to a custom Search form
Pre-defined queries (optionally modified
to include synonyms) through
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Missing bookmarks or too many
Wrong hierarchy
Entire hierarchy expanded
Random bookmark expanded
Sequential order of special items
Non-unique beginning of text
Common producer problems ™
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No direct bookmarks to Contents,
Index, List of Figures, List of Tables
Common producer problems š
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FrameMaker 6.0 or earlier –
special spaces or non-breaking hyphens
Word2000 & two-line headings
Displayed fine in Acrobat/Reader 5.05
Boxes showing in bookmark text in
Acrobat/Reader 5.0
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All-caps bookmarks
Paragraph numbering included
No bookmarks to letter headings
in lengthy indexes
Inconsistency as to what is included
Common producer problems ›
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“Hide After Use” activated inadvertently
Zero-width navigation panel
Common user problems
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Can demonstrate:
Bookmark-related help
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O
O
Bookmark display functions
Keyboard shortcuts – e.g. Ctrl-click the
[+] symbol to open all subordinates