Cross reference links in PDFs

[flair]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hi,

When I insert a cross-reference in Word 2008, the reference appears as a hyperlink in the edit view, but when I save as PDF, the links are lost. I read a report that this is not the case on the PC version of Office.

Is there a way to preserve cross-reference links within a document in a PDF export?

Is there a way to tailor the save as PDF feature (e.g. including bookmarks of section headings)?

Many thanks for your help!

 

[John McGhie]

Yes, No, and No :-(

PC Office has its own PDF converter that preserves links.

Mac Office uses the Apple PDF writer, and Adobe will not allow that to add
hyperlinks.

There is no way to tailor the "Save as PDF" feature. However, you can
purchase the full version of Adobe Acrobat. Then you can tailor its "Word
Import" feature

Hope this helps

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hi,

When I insert a cross-reference in Word 2008, the reference appears as a
hyperlink in the edit view, but when I save as PDF, the links are lost. I read
a report that this is not the case on the PC version of Office.

Is there a way to preserve cross-reference links within a document in a PDF
export?

Is there a way to tailor the save as PDF feature (e.g. including bookmarks of
section headings)?

Many thanks for your help!

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Phillip Jones, C.E.T.]

Have you tried the built in converter MS created for Office2008.

I cures some problems that have pestered PDF generated from Word Excel
Documents Since Acrobat has been in existence. That o multiple PDF's
being generated at every page and section Break. that have to be knitted
back together. With the converted built in from MS (Save As.. PDF) . It
only fails in one case now a section break where the section orientation
has been changed

Have you tried on the links with this converter? I can not say because I
haven't tried. But the new converter doesn't seem to use the Apple PDF
Engine. In fact it doesn't even call up the print menu. It just goes
from document to PDF.

 

[Michel Bintener]

But it still uses the PDF mechanism provided by Apple. No advanced features
are supported, such as live bookmarks or hyperlinks (or cross-references);
you basically get a print-out of the current document in PDF file format.
PDF support is built into Win Office 2007 and later, and its PDF engine
preserves all the elements listed above.

By the way, a number of apps allow you to save straight to PDF and bypass
the Print window in the process. Nisus Writer Pro does it, as do the iWork
apps and at least two products made by the OmniGroup.

 

[Phillip Jones, C.E.T.]

Let's try again.

Have you tried the built in converter MS created for Office2008.

I cures some problems that have pestered PDF generated from Word Excel
Documents Since Acrobat has been in existence.

That of multiple PDF's being generated at every page and section Break.
that have to be knitted back together. With the converter built in from
MS (Save As.. PDF). It only fails in one case now, a section break where
the section orientation has been changed

Have you tried on the links with this converter? I can not say because I
haven't tried. But the new converter doesn't seem to use the Apple PDF
Engine.

In fact it doesn't even call up the print menu. It just goes from
document to PDF.

 

[Phillip Jones, C.E.T.]

But why why has the problem of creating a new PDF at ever page and
section break. been cured. I can save a document with page and section
breaks and using converter behaves. I can use apple's Print to PDF from
Print menu or through Adobe's Adobe PDF print driver that create a PDF
from scratch create an new pdf at every page and section break.
Something different?

 

[Michel Bintener]

I don't know for sure, but I believe it is definitely possible to tweak
Apple's PDF engine. For instance, if you save a Pages document as PDF, the
file retains hyperlinks, which proves that with the necessary adjustments,
you can go beyond the plain PDF files that are usually generated via the
Print menu.

 

[flair]

Thank you all for your help.

In answers to your questions, yes, I am using Microsoft's implementation of File > Save As > Format: PDF in Word 2008, and although they fixed the section break fragmentation problem, hyperlinks in documents are not preserved in PDF, and header styles are not converted to PDF bookmarks.

Even if it's true that Word only offers Apple's PDF print functionality, as Michel Bintener pointed out, Pages shows it is possible to retain hyperlinks, and I just verified that it even preserves when using the print dialog's PDF creation.

Does anyone have any ideas how we might be able to achieve this in Word 2008's PDF creation?

Thank you all again for your help

--Yehuda

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi Yehuda,

Does anyone have any ideas how we might be able to achieve this in Word 2008's
PDF creation?

We, i.e. the users of Microsoft Office 2008, cannot change anything about
this implementation, as there is no workaround. We'll have to wait for
Microsoft to make some changes, and honestly, I do not expect to see this
get fixed in Office 2008. If there are plans to fix this, it will most
probably be in the next iteration of Office, which should come out anytime
between 2010 and 2012, based on the interval between past releases.

As an alternative, you can import simpler documents into Pages and export
them as PDF, as Pages preserves hyperlinks in PDFs (even though it does not
understand cross-references or most types of fields). Another solution is
OpenOffice.org/NeoOffice, which uses its own PDF engine and also maintains
links. Lastly, Word 2007 and later can also be used for that purpose.

 

[flair]

Hi,

Many thanks for all your help. How do we notify Microsoft formally of this problem so it gets on a list of fixes?

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Yehuda:

You should find that Pages will open your Word document and save it to PDF.

Cheers

Thank you all for your help.

In answers to your questions, yes, I am using Microsoft's implementation of
File > Save As > Format: PDF in Word 2008, and although they fixed the section
break fragmentation problem, hyperlinks in documents are not preserved in PDF,
and header styles are not converted to PDF bookmarks.

Even if it's true that Word only offers Apple's PDF print functionality, as
Michel Bintener pointed out, Pages shows it is possible to retain hyperlinks,
and I just verified that it even preserves when using the print dialog's PDF
creation.

Does anyone have any ideas how we might be able to achieve this in Word 2008's
PDF creation?

Thank you all again for your help

--Yehuda

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi,

Many thanks for all your help. How do we notify Microsoft formally of this
problem so it gets on a list of fixes?

Simply click on Help>Send Feedback about Word, then leave your feedback on
the feedback page that opens in your default browser.

 

[John McGhie]

Well, you do not have to notify Microsoft of this particular issue They
are very keenly aware of it.

They had the same issue on Windows, and they solved it by writing their OWN
code to perform the PDF writing function.

Adobe threatened to sue them. Again.... That's why the PDF and XPF output
filters are not "in the box" with Microsoft Office 2007. Adobe wanted to
charge a huge licence fee.

So Microsoft issued them as an "optional add-on". They can't do that in Mac
OS X.

They have to wait for someone to volunteer to pay Adobe the licence fee
involved. I guess Apple has cut a deal that says "You can use it for Pages,
but don't make it available to third-party software!"

Who knows... The machinations behind the scenes of software development are
truly Machiavellian.

But I can tell you that this one will not be solved with code (or
pleading...) only with "cash".

Cheers

Hi,

Many thanks for all your help. How do we notify Microsoft formally of this
problem so it gets on a list of fixes?

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]