Linking PDF Table Of Contents To Pages

Linking Existing PDF Table Of Contents To Pages

Introduction: This tutorial shows how to automatically add links to entries in the existing table of contents (TOC) that point to the corresponding page numbers in a PDF document using the AutoBookmark™ plug-in for the Adobe® Acrobat®. This is a very common task that needs to be applied to PDF documents that have an existing table of contents that does not have hyperlinks.; This operation is also available in the Action Wizard (Acrobat's batch processing tool) and can be used for automating of document processing workflows.
Prerequisites: You need a copy of 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 A PDF Document: Start the Adobe® Acrobat® application and open a PDF document using "File > Open…" from the main menu.
Step 2 - Open The "Create Links For Table of Contents" Dialog: Select "Plug-Ins > Links > Generate Links > Link Table of Contents To Pages..." to open the "Create Links For Table of Contents" dialog.
Step 3 - Specify TOC Format: Select TOC format that is the most suitable for the TOC layout in the current PDF document. Optionally, specify a page offset. Page offset is a difference between physical page numbers (1,2,3..) and "printed" or logical page numbers. It can be positive or negative. For example, if TOC entry refers to the page 15, but this page is actually page 20 in the PDF document, then the page offset is 5 (20 - 15 = 5).; There are several different TOC format options available. We are going to show a number of examples for each formatting option. Formatting options are necessary to separate TOC entries from other kinds of text that can occur in the document.; 1. "Common TOC format, dot leader (page can be a label)". Page labels are displayed for each page in the thumbnail view and in the current page number entry box. Unlike page numbers, the page labels can contain letters, dashes and other custom symbols. Use this format selection for common TOC format with a dot leader:; 2. "Common TOC format, space leader (page can be a label)". Page labels are displayed for each page in the thumbnail view and in the current page number entry box. Use this format selection for common TOC format with space leader:; 3. "Starting with capital letters only (page is a number)". Use this format selection when each TOC entry always starts with a capital letter and referenced page is always a number (both space and dot leaders are allowed):; 4. "Starting with numbers or capital letters (page is a number)". Use this format selection when each TOC entry starts with a capital letter or a number and a referenced page is always a number (both space and dot leaders are allowed):; 5. "Some restrictions on characters used in the title (page is a number)". TOC entries for this option can only start with a letter (upper or lower case), or with a number. Both space and dot leaders are allowed. The referenced page is always a number. This option only allows the following punctuation characters in the TOC text along with letters and digits: ? ! " : / \ , - .; 6. "No restrictions in titles formatting (page is a number)". Use this format selection when no restrictions in title formatting and referenced page is a number only:
Step 4 - Specify Processing Page Range (Optionally): Click here to skip optional steps to start linking TOC to pages without configuring the link appearance and page range settings. The default (or last used) settings will be applied.; Click "Edit Page Range…" to specify processing page range.; Select a desired processing page range. The software provides an ability to use keywords for indirect page referencing. Click "OK" once done.
Step 5 - Specify Page Area (Optionally): Press the "Edit Page Area..." button to specify an area on the page where to perform a text search. All text outside of the specified area will be ignored.; Check the "Process text located only in the following area" box. Click "Select Page Area From Sample Page…" button to specify processing page area using a sample page from the current PDF document.; Click and hold the left mouse button while using the Selection tool, then draw a rectangle around an area on the sample page.
Step 6 - Specify Link Appearance (Optionally): Press the "Edit Appearance..." button to specify a desired visual appearance of the links.; Select a link type: visible or invisible rectangle. Select "Invisible Rectangle" if you don’t want users to see the link in the PDF. An invisible link is useful if the link is over an image. Note that the "Line Thickness", "Line Style" and "Color" options are not available if "Invisible Rectangle" option is selected.; Select a highlight style: none, invert, outline or inset.; None: doesn’t change the appearance of the link.; Invert: changes the link’s color to its opposite.; Outline: changes the link’s outline color to its opposite.; Inset: creates the appearance of an embossed rectangle.; Select a line thickness: thin, medium or thick.; Select a line style: solid, dashed or underline.; Select a color for the link using the "Color" menu. The color is used only for drawing the link outline. Check the "Change underlying text color to" box and select a desired color from the pull-down menu. Click "OK" to close the dialog.
Step 7 - Start Link Creation: Click "OK" to start link creation.; The dialog will show the total number of links created. Click "OK" to close the dialog.
Step 8 - Inspect The Results: The sofware automatically added links to all entries in the existing table of contents (TOC) that point to the corresponding page numbers in the PDF document.; If it is necessary to create links to page numbers in the more complex scenarios, then you use "Plug-ins > Links > Generate Links >Generate Links By Text Search" menu.; You can find a list of other step-by-step linking tutorials here: http://www.evermap.com/abm_lnk_summary.asp#tutorials.