Creating PDF Link and Bookmark Report
Introduction
This tutorial shows how to generate a detailed report on links and bookmarks for one or more PDF documents using the AutoBookmark™ plug-in for the Adobe® Acrobat®. The report contains detailed information on link types, external files & URL dependencies, named destination references and link and bookmark errors. Link report can be used to check for link/bookmark errors such as missing files or invalid page references.
Creating PDF link and Bookmark Report
This operation is also available in the Action Wizard (the Acrobat's batch processing tool) and can be used for automating of document processing workflows.
Prerequisites
You need a copy of the Adobe® Acrobat® along with the AutoBookmark™ plug-in installed on your computer in order to use this tutorial. You can download trial versions of both the Adobe® Acrobat® and the AutoBookmark™ plug-in.
Step 1 - Open the "Create Link Report For Multiple Files" Dialog
Start the Adobe® Acrobat® application and select "Plug-Ins > Links > Create Link and Bookmark Report..." to open the "Create Link Report For Multiple Files" dialog.
Open the Create Link Report For Multiple Files Dialog
Step 2 - Select Input Files (Folder)
Click "Add Files..." to add PDF document that needs to be processed. Optionally, click "Add Folder..." to add folder with PDF documents that need to be processed.
Click Add Files button
Select a PDF document (a folder with PDF documents) that needs to be processed. Click "Open".
Select input file
Step 3 - Specify Processing Options
Select processing options to control the scope of the report.
Click "OK" to proceed.
Select processing options
Select the output folder and the filename. Click "Save".
Specify an output folder
Step 4 - Examine the Report
The output report is generated in the plain text format. The report is automatically opened by the default text editor (Notepad).
Examine the report
Understanding The Report
The report contains 7 parts:
  1. File information
  2. Statistics
  3. Detailed Overview
  4. External File Dependencies
  5. URL Dependencies
  6. Named Destinations
  7. Link Errors
File information
A file information contains a report date, a path to input document(s) and a document title(s).
Statistics
A statistics section shows:
  • Number of pages in the document
  • Total number of links and bookmarks
  • Number of links and bookmarks with errors
  • Number of links and bookmarks without actions
  • Number of bookmarks that are not pointing to pages within the same document
Detailed Overview
The "Detailed overview" section shows the number of links/bookmarks pointing to:
  • Absolute file paths (if present)
  • External files (via "Open a file" action)
  • Pages in the same document (via "Go to a page view" action)
  • File attachments
  • Pages in the another document
  • Web URLs
  • Article threads
  • Movie or a sound files
  • JavaScript actions
  • Menu items
  • Unknown/invalid actions
Example of the link and bookmark report
File Dependencies
The "File dependencies" section lists every external file that is referenced in the PDF document. Each reference is labeled as either relative or absolute. A full path or absolute path is a path that points to the same location on one file system regardless of the working directory of the document that contains a link. It is usually written in reference to a root directory. A relative path is a path relative to the current document's directory (folder). If a document uses absolute paths then it cannot be moved to another computer (unless the computer contains exactly the same folder structure) or written on CD/DVD.
URL Dependencies
The "URL dependencies" section contains all URL references that are present in the PDF document (via "Open a web link" actions).
Named Destinations
The "Named Destinations" section shows: :
  • Number of links and bookmarks pointing to named destinations
  • Number of different named destinations used by links and by bookmarks
  • Number of different named destinations referenced in external files
Example of the link and bookmark report
Link Errors
The "Errors Found" section contains detailed information about the link/bookmark errors found in the document:
  • Destination page number is out of range (for "Go to a page view in current document" actions).
  • Referenced named destination does not exist (for "Go to a page view in current document" actions).
  • Destination file name is not specified (for "Open a file" and "Go to a page in another document" actions).
  • Destination file does not exist (for "Open a file" and "Go to a page in another document" actions).
  • URL address is empty (for "Open a web link" action).
  • Checks for proper URL formatting (for "Open a web link" action), for example starts from "http", "https" or "ftp" prefix and conforms to URL format.
  • Every external file reference is labeled as either relative or absolute to aid in finding absolute path links (Links that are using absolute paths will be broken, if a PDF document is moved to a different location).
If multiple PDF documents have been selected, then the report contains detailed information about every input PDF document.
The link and bookmark report contains errors description
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