Activate the Button Tool (Acrobat 6) or the Form Tool (Acrobat 5), hold down the Shift key, and select each button until all of them are selected. Right-click the selection and choose Duplicate . . . . Enter the desired page range and click OK. Your navigation bar now should exist on those pages, too. Page through your document to ensure they are positioned properly.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
How to Style Buttons and Add Graphics?
By default, buttons are plain, gray rectangles. Change a button's background and border using the Appearance tab in its properties dialog; you can even make a button transparent. Change a button's text label using the Options tab.
The Options tab also enables you to select a graphical icon. Change the Layout: to include an Icon and then click Choose Icon. You can use a bitmap, a PostScript drawing (Acrobat 6), or even a PDF page as a button icon.
Consider creating a no-op graphical button as a background to your other (transparent) buttons. This can be easier than trying to split a single navigation bar graphic into several pieces. Just make sure the active buttons end up on top of the graphic layer; otherwise, they won't work. Do this by creating the graphic layer before creating any of the active buttons, or by giving the graphic layer a lower position in the tabbing order.
Alter form field tab order in Acrobat 6.0.1 by activating the Select Object Tool (Tools >Advanced Editing >Select Object Tool), selecting Advanced >Forms >Fields >Set Tab Order, and then clicking each field in order. Alter form field tab order in Acrobat 5 by activating the Form Tool, selecting Tools >Forms >Fields >Set Tab Order, and then clicking each field in order.
To prevent a button from printing, open its properties and select the General tab (Acrobat 6) or the Appearance tab (Acrobat 5). Change Form Field: to Visible but Doesn't Print.
The Options tab also enables you to select a graphical icon. Change the Layout: to include an Icon and then click Choose Icon. You can use a bitmap, a PostScript drawing (Acrobat 6), or even a PDF page as a button icon.
Consider creating a no-op graphical button as a background to your other (transparent) buttons. This can be easier than trying to split a single navigation bar graphic into several pieces. Just make sure the active buttons end up on top of the graphic layer; otherwise, they won't work. Do this by creating the graphic layer before creating any of the active buttons, or by giving the graphic layer a lower position in the tabbing order.
Alter form field tab order in Acrobat 6.0.1 by activating the Select Object Tool (Tools >Advanced Editing >Select Object Tool), selecting Advanced >Forms >Fields >Set Tab Order, and then clicking each field in order. Alter form field tab order in Acrobat 5 by activating the Form Tool, selecting Tools >Forms >Fields >Set Tab Order, and then clicking each field in order.
To prevent a button from printing, open its properties and select the General tab (Acrobat 6) or the Appearance tab (Acrobat 5). Change Form Field: to Visible but Doesn't Print.
How to Add a Web-Style Navigation Bar to PDF Pages?
Ensure that readers see your essential links.
Styles used on the Web suggest that readers love navigation bars
Creating a PDF navigation bar in Acrobat and then duplicating it across several (or all) document pages is easy. Links can open external web pages or internal PDF pages. Add graphics and other styling elements to make it stand out. Disable printing to prevent it from cluttering printed pages. All of this is possible with PDF form buttons.
Create Buttons and Set Actions
Create and manage buttons using the appropriate Acrobat tool. In Acrobat 6, activate the Button Tool (Tools >Advanced Editing >Forms >Button Tool), then click and drag out a rectangle. Release the mouse and the Button Properties dialog opens. Select the Actions tab and click the Select Action drop-down box. Choose Go to a Page in this Document or Open a Web Link and click Add . . . . Another dialog opens where you can enter destination details. Click OK and the action should be added to the button's Mouse Up event. Click Close and your button should be functional. Test it by selecting the Hand Tool and clicking the button.
Improve your button's precision by activating Snap to Grid from View >Snap to Grid. Alter its subdivisions from the Units and Guides (Acrobat 6) or Layout Grid (Acrobat 5) preferences.
In Acrobat 5, select the Form Tool, then click and drag out a rectangle. Release the mouse and a Field Properties dialog opens. Enter the button's name (it can be anything, but it must be unique) and change the Type: to Button. Click the Actions tab, select Mouse Up, and click Add . . . . Curiously, you do not have the choice to go to a page within the document. Instead, select JavaScript and enter this simple code; JavaScript page numbers are zero-based, so this example goes to page 6, not page 5:
this.pageNum = 5;
Or, select World Wide Web Link if you want the button to open a web page. Click Set Action and then OK, and your button should be functional. Test it by selecting the Hand Tool and clicking the button.
Acrobat World Wide Web links should be preceded by http://. Otherwise, they won't work in older versions of Acrobat/Reader.
Styles used on the Web suggest that readers love navigation bars
Creating a PDF navigation bar in Acrobat and then duplicating it across several (or all) document pages is easy. Links can open external web pages or internal PDF pages. Add graphics and other styling elements to make it stand out. Disable printing to prevent it from cluttering printed pages. All of this is possible with PDF form buttons.
Create Buttons and Set Actions
Create and manage buttons using the appropriate Acrobat tool. In Acrobat 6, activate the Button Tool (Tools >Advanced Editing >Forms >Button Tool), then click and drag out a rectangle. Release the mouse and the Button Properties dialog opens. Select the Actions tab and click the Select Action drop-down box. Choose Go to a Page in this Document or Open a Web Link and click Add . . . . Another dialog opens where you can enter destination details. Click OK and the action should be added to the button's Mouse Up event. Click Close and your button should be functional. Test it by selecting the Hand Tool and clicking the button.
Improve your button's precision by activating Snap to Grid from View >Snap to Grid. Alter its subdivisions from the Units and Guides (Acrobat 6) or Layout Grid (Acrobat 5) preferences.
In Acrobat 5, select the Form Tool, then click and drag out a rectangle. Release the mouse and a Field Properties dialog opens. Enter the button's name (it can be anything, but it must be unique) and change the Type: to Button. Click the Actions tab, select Mouse Up, and click Add . . . . Curiously, you do not have the choice to go to a page within the document. Instead, select JavaScript and enter this simple code; JavaScript page numbers are zero-based, so this example goes to page 6, not page 5:
this.pageNum = 5;
Or, select World Wide Web Link if you want the button to open a web page. Click Set Action and then OK, and your button should be functional. Test it by selecting the Hand Tool and clicking the button.
Acrobat World Wide Web links should be preceded by http://. Otherwise, they won't work in older versions of Acrobat/Reader.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Set Document Metadata
Pdftk can take a plain-text file of these same key/value pairs and update a PDF's Info dictionary to match. Currently, it does not update the PDF's XMP stream. The command would look like this:
pdftk mydoc.pdf update_info new_info.txt output mydoc.updated.pdf
This will add or modify the Info keys given by mydoc.new_data.txt. Note that the output PDF filename must be different from the input. To remove a key/value pair, simply pass in the key/value with an empty value, like so:
InfoKey: MyDataKey
InfoValue:
Use pdftk to strip all Info and XMP metadata from a document by copying its pages into a new PDF, like so:
pdftk mydoc.pdf cat A output mydoc.no_metadata.pdf
The PDF specification defines several Info fields. Be careful to use these only as described in the specification. They are Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator, Producer, CreationDate, ModDate, and Trapped.
pdftk mydoc.pdf update_info new_info.txt output mydoc.updated.pdf
This will add or modify the Info keys given by mydoc.new_data.txt. Note that the output PDF filename must be different from the input. To remove a key/value pair, simply pass in the key/value with an empty value, like so:
InfoKey: MyDataKey
InfoValue:
Use pdftk to strip all Info and XMP metadata from a document by copying its pages into a new PDF, like so:
pdftk mydoc.pdf cat A output mydoc.no_metadata.pdf
The PDF specification defines several Info fields. Be careful to use these only as described in the specification. They are Title, Author, Subject, Keywords, Creator, Producer, CreationDate, ModDate, and Trapped.
Get Document Metadata
To create a plain-text report of PDF metadata, use pdftk's dump_data operation. It will also report PDF bookmarks and page labels, among other things. The command looks like this:
pdftk mydoc.pdf dump_data output mydoc.data.txt
Metadata will be represented as key/value pairs, like so:
InfoKey: Creator
InfoValue: Acrobat PDFMaker 6.0 for Word
InfoKey: Title
InfoValue: Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound
InfoKey: Author
InfoValue: Eric Tamm
InfoKey: Producer
InfoValue: Acrobat Distiller 6.0.1 (Windows)
InfoKey: ModDate
InfoValue: D:20040420234132-07'00'
InfoKey: CreationDate
InfoValue: D:20040420234045-07'00'
Another tool for reporting PDF metadata is pdfinfo, which is part of the Xpdf project (http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/). In addition to metadata, it also reports page sizes, page count, and PDF permissions . Running pdfinfo mydoc.pdf yields a report such as this:
Title: Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound
Author: Eric Tamm
Creator: Acrobat PDFMaker 6.0 for Word
Producer: Acrobat Distiller 6.0.1 (Windows)
CreationDate: 04/20/04 23:40:45
ModDate: 04/22/04 14:39:30
Tagged: no
Pages: 216
Encrypted: no
Page size: 522 x 756 pts
File size: 1126904 bytes
Optimized: yes
PDF version: 1.4
Use pdfinfo's options to fine-tune its behavior. Use its -meta option to view a PDF's XMP stream.
pdftk mydoc.pdf dump_data output mydoc.data.txt
Metadata will be represented as key/value pairs, like so:
InfoKey: Creator
InfoValue: Acrobat PDFMaker 6.0 for Word
InfoKey: Title
InfoValue: Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound
InfoKey: Author
InfoValue: Eric Tamm
InfoKey: Producer
InfoValue: Acrobat Distiller 6.0.1 (Windows)
InfoKey: ModDate
InfoValue: D:20040420234132-07'00'
InfoKey: CreationDate
InfoValue: D:20040420234045-07'00'
Another tool for reporting PDF metadata is pdfinfo, which is part of the Xpdf project (http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/). In addition to metadata, it also reports page sizes, page count, and PDF permissions . Running pdfinfo mydoc.pdf yields a report such as this:
Title: Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound
Author: Eric Tamm
Creator: Acrobat PDFMaker 6.0 for Word
Producer: Acrobat Distiller 6.0.1 (Windows)
CreationDate: 04/20/04 23:40:45
ModDate: 04/22/04 14:39:30
Tagged: no
Pages: 216
Encrypted: no
Page size: 522 x 756 pts
File size: 1126904 bytes
Optimized: yes
PDF version: 1.4
Use pdfinfo's options to fine-tune its behavior. Use its -meta option to view a PDF's XMP stream.
Add document information to your PDF, even without using Acrobat.
Traditional metadata includes things such as your document's title, authors, and ISBN. But you can add anything you want, such as the document's revision number, category, internal ID, or expiration date. PDF can store this information in two different ways: using the PDF's Info dictionary or using an embedded Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) stream. When you change the PDF's title, authors, subject, or keywords using Acrobat, it updates both of these resources. Acrobat 6 also enables you to export or import PDF XMP datafiles. Visit http://www.adobe.com/products/xmp/ to learn about Adobe's XMP.
In Acrobat 6, view and update metadata by selecting File >Document Properties . . . >Description or Advanced >Document Metadata . . . . In Acrobat 5, select File >Document Properties >Summary. Save your PDF after making changes to the metadata.
Pdftk currently reads and writes only the metadata in a PDF's Info dictionary. However, it does not restrict you to just the title, authors, subject, and keywords. This solves the basic problem of embedding information into a PDF document; pdftk allows you to add custom metadata fields to PDF as needed. pdftk is free software.
Xpdf's (http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/) pdfinfo reports a PDF's Info dictionary contents, its XMP stream, and other document data. pdfinfo is free software
In Acrobat 6, view and update metadata by selecting File >Document Properties . . . >Description or Advanced >Document Metadata . . . . In Acrobat 5, select File >Document Properties >Summary. Save your PDF after making changes to the metadata.
Pdftk currently reads and writes only the metadata in a PDF's Info dictionary. However, it does not restrict you to just the title, authors, subject, and keywords. This solves the basic problem of embedding information into a PDF document; pdftk allows you to add custom metadata fields to PDF as needed. pdftk is free software.
Xpdf's (http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/) pdfinfo reports a PDF's Info dictionary contents, its XMP stream, and other document data. pdfinfo is free software
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
How to move PDF bookmark?
New bookmarks don't always appear where you want them. Select a bookmark (use a right-click to keep from activating it), click, and drag it to where it belongs. A little cursor will appear, indicating where the bookmark would go if you dropped it. You can indent a bookmark by dragging it to the left (Acrobat 6) or the right(Acrobat 5) of the intended parent. The little cursor will jump, showing you where the bookmark would go.
Move an entire block of bookmarks by first creating a multiple selection. In Acrobat 6, the order in which you select bookmarks is the order they will have after you move them, which can be a surprise. To preserve their order, add bookmarks to your multiple selection from top to bottom.
Select the first bookmark, hold down the Shift key, and then select the final bookmark in the block. Hold down the Ctrl key and click a bookmark to add or remove it from your selection. Click the selection and drag it to its new location.
Move an entire block of bookmarks by first creating a multiple selection. In Acrobat 6, the order in which you select bookmarks is the order they will have after you move them, which can be a surprise. To preserve their order, add bookmarks to your multiple selection from top to bottom.
Select the first bookmark, hold down the Shift key, and then select the final bookmark in the block. Hold down the Ctrl key and click a bookmark to add or remove it from your selection. Click the selection and drag it to its new location.
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