Comments on: InDesignSecrets Podcast 051

By: David Blatner

David Blatner — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:49:09 +0000

Beatrice (and Anne-Marie): Yes, this is a new feature in Acrobat 8. If you don’t like it, in Acrobat 8’s preferences dialog box, you can turn off “Create Links from URLS.”

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 14:10:10 +0000

Beatrice, I ran into this myself the other day — noticed that every URL in a PDF was a working link even though I hadn’t done anything special to them in ID — but didn’t have time to investigate further. I was looking at the PDF in Acrobat Pro 8; so I’m assuming it’s a new feature in that program (at least); i.e., recognizes URLs immediately. I don’t know if the same would be true in Reader 8, or earlier versions of Reader.

I know in Acrobat 7, you could run a command from the Tools menu to automatically convert URLs into links; it only worked reliably, though, when the full URL was on a single line. Ones that broke onto two or more lines you had to create yourself with Acrobat’s Link tool.

Again, though, it’s crucial to test the PDF in the versions of Adobe Reader that the users will have; to see if the links are working there as well as in Acrobat.

By: Beatrice

Beatrice — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 06:43:18 +0000

I’d like to say that all of this hyperlink information cured my confusion, but I feel lost. When I exported my newsletter to PDF all of the email addresses and websites that were in the newsletter are working hyperlinks without me doing nothing more than typing the text in the layout. I didnt use the hyperlink menus or commands AT ALL. So if this worked, it makes me think that the option is nothing more than adding a box and line style – which by the way, mine came out with NO lines. I have CS3.

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 16:15:40 +0000

Mitch, great question. I would love to find an answer to that!

By: Mitch Osborne

Mitch Osborne — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 05:06:55 +0000

Thanks for a great discussion on hyperlinks! Although I’ve inserted URL links successfully into a couple of recent publications, your explanation of how the process works clarifies a few things that were confusing. I’ve got one question, though.

One publication I lay out includes ads submitted as PDFs. The ads come with active URL hyperlinks included (embedded?). When I create a PDF of the whole document including those ads, the hyperlinks within them are no longer active, and I have to reactivate them manually in Acrobat. Is there any way to place a PDF ad into an Indesign document and automatically keep its hyperlinks active and alive when you create the new PDF?

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 01:28:01 +0000

Hi Diane! Variables are just like the “Automatic Page Number” special character that’s in all page layout programs. It’s something you insert into a text frame right in the text flow (before or after a character or all by itself in its own frame), you can insert it from the Type menu, you can select the variable placeholder and format it, but what it actually “says” in the document depends on the type of variable it is.

With an auto page number, it “says” the page number it’s on, and the exact same variable looks different (says something else) depending on the page you inserted it on.

When you insert the File Name text variable, what it says depends on what you named the document. Other text variables are in the same vein, such as Last Modified Date and Output Date.

The Running Header variable — the one we were talking about in the podcast — is the most advanced one, I guess. What it shows on a page when you insert it is a duplicate of a text string — the first or last instance of text on that page that’s formatted with a given style, the style you specify when you set up the variable.

I did a video tutorial on the Running Header variable for Adobe, you can access it here: Adobe Video Workshop. When you get there, choose InDesign as the program and then scroll through the available videos until you get to the one about Running Headers. It’s about 5 minutes long.

By: Diane S

Diane S — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 21:45:29 +0000

Maybe I was in a post-lunch carbo coma when I listening to this but I honestly cant comprehend when I would use text variables. Is there a visual I can see? Maybe Mr Murphy has a clip in one of the video podcasts?

By: Jason Cutler

Jason Cutler — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 14:07:15 +0000

The File Info panel shouldn’t really be an obscure feature. This is for tagging your files with metadata that can be searched via Bridge or proper Digital Asset Management programs. You can customize these fields with a program called MetaGrove, but it ain’t for the faint of heart. Funny how Acrobat 7 let you add custom metadata fields but other CS2 apps didn’t.

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Thu, 31 May 2007 16:54:56 +0000

More comments about the Running Header variable discussion appear here, fyi.

By: Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie — Sat, 26 May 2007 14:48:18 +0000

Josh, you’re absolutely right …. I don’t know how we could have neglected to mention that crucial fact! I’m so used to Shift-F5′ing that I forget it’s an extra operation. And yes, it works on Macs, same keyboard shortcut.

I think changing the zoom, or turning Preview on/off also updates the Running header type of variable.