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Just this morning I did my first cool PDF file with hyperlinks. If you
have Word 97 and Acrobat Distiller, you should have (menu in Word 97)
File > Create PDF. That will do it, with a few caveats:
* Get the free, downloadable file from Adobe called pdfmaker.zip (might
be pdfmaker.exe) and install it. This file only works if you have Word
97.
* You will need to have a postscript printer driver selected (you won't
actually print anything, so it doesn't need to be physically connected.
I use Apple Laser Writer because it comes with Windows 95.).
* Set your File > Create PDF > Preferences to use Distiller.
* When everything above is set up, to actually produce the file: File >
Create PDF > Print
Then go get a cup of coffee. It will take awhile, but the result is
worth it. The onscreen version of the PDF is less than perfect (though
usable), but when you distribute it, your users can print it
beautifully. They can also navigate it beautifully as all the
cross-references and bookmarks are hyperlinked. Users also will see a
frame on the left side of the Acrobat Reader window that gives them an
outline by heading. The headings are also hypertext that they click and
go to that portion of the text immediately. You can set the colors for
your hyperlinks and embed your fonts (legal issues aside...).
I really believe this is the future for technical writers. More and more
companies are seeing the demand for users for navigable, printable
doc-on-a-disk. It reduces cost to the manufacturer/developer and
increases usability to the end users and resellers.
Jane
Jane Bergen, Technical Writer,
AnswerSoft, Inc. Richardson, TX
(972) 997-8355
janeb -at- answersoft -dot- com
On Monday, February 09, 1998 8:44 AM, <Steven Scott Warren>
[SMTP:stwarren -at- EUR -dot- KO -dot- COM] wrote:
> In Adobe Acrobat, we manually insert our bookmarks after turning our
> documentation into a pdf file. I hear there is a way to automatically
have
> the bookmarks created via your word toc. Does anyone know how to do
this?
>
> thanks,
> --ssw
