Where Are the Acrobat Bookmarks?

Introduction

Long-time users of the Acrobat Edition may remember that, prior to the release of Version 4.0, the PDF file contained extensive, alphabetized bookmarks for navigation. Beginning with Version 4.0, these have been eliminated for several reasons. The intent of this article is to explain the reasons why, and explore any possible remedies. But first. . .

A Little History

I began using Csound in late 1997 or early 1998. Like others, I found Csound to have a rather steep learning curve, so the manual was invaluable. However, the most recent one available was in HTML format and I would have preferred a printed manual. Also, the manual was not updated too often. So I set about creating a printable manual, easy to update, but strictly for my own use. This turned out to be a much larger job than I expected, so it occurred to me that, perhaps, I was not the only one with this need, especially in light of how quickly Csound was changing and growing at the time.

Conversations with a few other Csound users confirmed my suspicions, so in late summer of 1998, I released a Microsoft Word version of the manual to selected individuals. Then in the fall of 1998, I converted to the Acrobat format for better cross-platform usability, and began to make it available to the subscribers of Csound mailing list. The intent was still strictly hardcopy use. However, I began to build, over a period of time, extensive bookmarks to help assist those who wished to use it on screen, without printing.

In late 1998, as Richard Boulanger was preparing The Csound Book for publication, he decided to make my version of the manual the "official" one, and asked me to take on the task of maintaining the canonical manual. Shortly thereafter, he asked for a new HTML version, based on my Acrobat version. This took a few months to accomplish, but once it was finished, I realized it was far superior for online use than the Acrobat Edition, and even began using it myself sometimes.

Version 4.0 was released with the publication of The Csound Book. We now had the Acrobat Edition for those who wanted a print manual, and an HTML Edition, for those who wanted an easily navigable version for online use. And I was now maintaining two manuals, not one. Since maintaining the bookmarks in the Acrobat Edition was extremely labor-intensive and time-consuming, and since they were really (in my opinion) redundant with the HTML Edition, where links were much easier to maintain, and since I had no idea if anyone actually used the bookmarks (I didn't - why would anyone else?), I decided to eliminate them in Version 4.0. Only later did I get a few complaints.

The Bottom Line

I'll be blunt: I have no intention of reinstating the bookmarks, at least not myself. They are too labor-intensive, both to create and maintain throughout updates. They also increase the size of the file substantially. There would need to be about 250 bookmarks to duplicate the contents links page of the HTML Edition. This number appears to be at or near the maximum that Acrobat can handle. Although there are automated ways to create them, I have had no success creating this many automatically without the program crashing. Creating them manually would take hours. Once they are created, they must be manually rearranged in alphabetical order. Updating requires manual insertion of new pages and manual creation of bookmarks for the new material, then moving them to the correct position in the bookmark list. With a large update, this can take 3 or 4 hours. I have found no software solutions for this, either from Adobe or third party vendors. And I simply do not have the time to do this work manually with every update.

Personally, I feel that the HTML Edition is much better suited for online use. I realize that some may have problems with with the "bloatware" of the two major browsers taking too much RAM. In this case, one could use an older browser. The HTML Edition is written simply; it is HTML 3.2 compliant. There is no Javascript or CSS. The most advanced function is that it uses frames. So any frames-capable browser should work fine. It can also be used by non-frames browsers by loading "manual2.htm," although navigation is not quite as easy.

Another solution is to use a different browser. There are other, smaller browsers available. Some of these were developed specifically to have a smaller RAM footprint.

Possible Solution - Help Required

One Acrobat Edition user suggested that someone with programming skill could write a script to automate the creation and updating of bookmarks. I do not know if this is possible, but if anyone wishes to try, I'll be glad to discuss it with them. Here are the exact steps I used to create and update the bookmarks.

To create them:

1. Use PDFMaker in MS Word to create the Acrobat file and simultaneously convert Word's "Level 2 Headings" to Level 1 Acrobat bookmarks. This function appears to be broken in Acrobat 4.0, as a large number of bookmarks crashes the program. But, for now, let's assume it works. Also this process will take a while. Go have lunch.
2. In Acrobat, manually create "dummy" bookmarks to serve as headings for each letter of the alphabet as well as one for Symbols and one for Tags, Files, and Extensions.
3. Manually rearrange the bookmarks into alphabetical order under the headings just created. At the same time, delete the extra, spurious bookmarks PDFMaker created. These are the first letter of the next bookmark and are linked to the same place.

To update to the next version: I cannot simply create a new Acrobat file from the revised Word source document. To do that, would destroy the work outlined above. So, I follow this procedure:

1. Once the revised Word source file is finished, print each new or changed page, with PDF Writer.
2. In Acrobat, open the last version of the manual, replace the changed pages, and insert the new ones.
3. For new opcodes, manually create a new bookmark.
4. Since the bookmark is created at the end of the bookmarks list, move it to its correct position in the list.
5. Re-save and optimize the Acrobat file.

Conclusion

Perhaps a programmer who would like to see the return of the bookmarks can find a solution to this problem, as someone has suggested. If you would like to discuss it, please fell free to contact me.