Including PDF Bookmarks for Tables and Figures

[Sam Beard]

Richard and Shlomo,

   Thanks very much for the quick responses! 

   Richard, I saw the PDF Setup box and how it worked before I wrote,
but I wasn't sure if it would do as I wanted. Thanks very much for
clarifying that, as well as for the tips on how to proceed with it. It
does seem to have done just what I was hoping it would do! The only
problem is something that Shlomo mentioned: the table and figure
bookmarks are buried inside of initially-collapsed headings. But, that's
not that big of a deal. It might be better to have something like Shlomo
mentioned, which is a list at the end (or beginning) of the bookmarks
list with all of them clustered there, instead. We'll see what sort of
feedback (if any) we get about this. I'll also mention to our tech
support folks that the tables and figures are now listed in the
bookmarks and see if they can get any feedback from customers about the
usefulness of this. We may end up going with something like Shlomo
suggested, in the long run. This is the first time they've been listed
in the bookmarks at all, so that's a plus, in my opinion, considering
how much information is in these figures and tables!

   Thanks again, Richard and Shlomo, for the help!

Samuel I. Beard, Jr.
Technical Writer
OI Analytical
979 690-1711 Ext. 222
sbeard at oico.com
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Shlomo Perets [mailto:shlomo2 at microtype.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 3:59 PM
To: Sam Beard
Cc: techwr-l at lists.techwr-l.com
Subject: Re: Including PDF Bookmarks for Tables and Figures

Sam,

You wrote:

>   I'm using Frame 7.2 on Win XP with Acrobat 8 Pro.
>
>   I'm wondering about including bookmarks in the PDF for tables and
>figures. We deliver our documents only in PDF format, and a LOT of our
>text references tables and figures. Plus, there is a LOT of
>configuration information and other such things in these figures and
>tables. On top of that, our technical support folks would probably
refer
>someone to a specific table or figure when they call in for support.
So,
>with all of that said, I'd like to include bookmarks for tables and
>figures in the PDF so that they show up, along with the chapter
headings
>and such, along the side of the file when it's opened in Reader or
>Acrobat. Ideally, they'd need to be nestled, automatically, inside the
>chapter bookmarks, at the very least. So, here's what it would look
>like, if I can get what I want:
>
>Chapter 1 Blah, blah, blah
>            Heading 1 blah, blah, blah
>                        Heading 2 blah, blah, blah
>                                                Table 1.1 Some table
>title
>                                                Figure 1.1 Some figure
>title
>                                    Heading 3 blah, blah, blah
>                                                Table 1.2 Some other
>table title
>                                                Figure 1.2 Some other
>figure title
>                        Heading 2 blah, blah, blah
>                                                Table 1.3 Yet some
other
>table title.....
>
>.....and so on. Is this something that can be done automatically,
either
>in settings inside the PDF setup box in Frame or through Adobe Acrobat?


You may include the paragraph tags for figure and table titles in 
FrameMaker's PDF Setup, along with heading paragraphs, but this will
result 
in the figure/table bookmarks spread all over your bookmark list, on 
different levels, because Acrobat cannot "skip" a bookmark level. Even
if 
you indicate the TableTitle paragraph as bookmark level 6 (in your
example 
above), it will show up as level 4 if it follows a Heading2 item , and
as 
level 2 when it follows a Title item . Also, some of these Figure/Table 
bookmarks are likely to be under initially-collapsed bookmarks.
As a result, common practice is not to include bookmarks for tables and 
figures, at best only including a bookmark for the page where a list of 
tables or figures is present.

[ An automated solution is available with the FrameMaker-to-Acrobat 
TimeSavers add-on (works transparently as part of the distilling
process), 
where one of the many functions is the Extract figure bookmarks /
Extract 
table Bookmarks function. It rearranges the bookmarks for figures and 
tables (or other special items), and places them either at the beginning
or 
the end of the bookmark list, under a user-defined heading, initially 
expanded or collapsed as needed.
For more information, see http://www.microtype.com/ImprovePDF05.html .
A real-life example of how this feature may be used is available at 
http://www.bergan.com/WilsEtal.pdf ]


Shlomo Perets

MicroType, http://www.microtype.com * ToolbarPlus Express for FrameMaker
FrameMaker/Acrobat training & consulting * FrameMaker-to-Acrobat 
TimeSavers/Assistants