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• • June 17, 2013 at 7:49 am #33928
    jcdesign

    Member

    I have an issue where I have an alternate layout of a university catalog that is set up to be exported as an interactive PDF with objects slightly repositioned from the print version. When I export the alternate layout to an interactive PDF none of my text anchors work anymore and neither does the linking in the bookmarks or table of contents.
    I tested an export based on the primary layout and those links work fine. Is there something that causes the bookmarks, table of contents, and text anchors to look for their links in the primary layout even when I am exporting from an alternate layout?

  • June 17, 2013 at 8:22 am #33930
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    Wow, that’s interesting. I haven’t tested that but it kind of makes sense. It’s important to remember that alternate layouts are not really anything magic… they are literally just a different section in your document. Pages inside the document. So I wonder if the links aren’t working because it’s confused as to where to link to.

    Another thought: When you make the alternate layout, it probably made a duplicate of each text anchor with a slightly different name. For example, I just tried it: I added a text anchor called “Anchor” and the made an alternate layout, and checked Hyperlink Destination Options (in hyperlinks panel menu) and there were two anchors… “Anchor” and “Anchor 2”

    • June 18, 2013 at 10:02 am #33955
      jcdesign

      Member

      Thanks for the catch on noticing that ID creates a new Anchor. It seems the problem I am having is that in the alternate layout the anchors and destinations don’t automatically get assigned to the new anchors that are created. There are duplicate hyperlinks and destinations created and given modified names, like “Anchor 2” but all the hyperlinks are still pointing to the original destination names and those all refer to the original layout and not the alternate layout. It would be nice if these anchors were automatically reassigned in the alternate layout to refer to destinations in the alternate layout. This would be very helpful since the document I am working on has many text anchors and that appears like I will have to manually update each one. Any generous geniuses out there want to create a script to automate this?

  • June 18, 2013 at 10:14 am #33956
    jcdesign

    Member

    One more note: Manually updating the text anchor in the alternate layout does resolve that direct link but the table of contents links and the PDF bookmark links still want to point to the original layout and not the alternate layout and subsequently are useless. Are things things oversights on Adobe’s part or are there ways to make these other items functional as well for an interactive PDF?

  • June 18, 2013 at 10:29 am #33958
    David Blatner

    Keymaster

    I would say that these are bugs in InDesign, and Adobe should address them.

    However, ultimately, I guess I should say that I find Alternate Layouts to be “half-baked” in a number of ways, and I rarely use it myself. Just too many problems with it right now.

    • June 18, 2013 at 10:40 am #33959
      jcdesign

      Member

      David,
      Thanks for the quick replies!

      It is a bummer that these are all issues with Alternate Layouts because I see a lot of potential for this feature to resolve a lot of complications with many of my projects, but it appears right now it is only creating as many new issues as it is solving. The only advice I can give to anyone in a situation like mine where you need to create 2 different layouts of the same document, one for print and one for interactive PDF with text anchors, is to make sure your original layout is the interactive version and make the alternate layout the print version since all the bookmarks and text anchors are going to point back to the original version. I did the exact opposite of this and now have to reverse everything.

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