Link Options
Use the Link options to avail of the links functionality in PDF-XChange Editor:
Figure 1. Home Tab, Web Links Dropdown Menu
•Click Add Links to URLs to convert URLs in page text into clickable hyperlinks.
•Click Remove All Web-Links to remove existing hyperlinks from URLs in page text.
•Click Add Links to Barcodes to create links from barcodes, as detailed below.
Please note that it is necessary to disable the Create links from URLs in page text preference in the Page Text preferences for the web-link features to operate:
Figure 2. Create Links from URLs in Page Text Preference Disabled
Create Links
Click Add/Edit Links to create links:
Figure 3. Home Tab, Create Link
When this feature is enabled, the pointer becomes a crosshairs icon. Click and drag to determine the size and location of the link. The Browse for Link Target dialog box will open:
Figure 4. Link Creation Tool Example
•If the Ignore Zoom Level box is selected then PDF-XChange Editor will ignore the document zoom level when links are created. If this box is cleared then the zoom level will update to the zoom level that was present at the time of link creation when links are used.
•If the Use Zoom Mode box is selected then PDF-XChange Editor will ignore the active zoom mode when links are created. If this box is cleared then the zoom mode will update to the mode that was active at the time of link creation when links are used.
•Move to the desired link location and zoom level, then click Set Link to create the link.
•Note that when the Browse for Link Target dialog box is open, you can also click named destinations in the Named Destinations pane to specify them as the target for the link.
•Click Advanced to determine advanced settings for links. The Edit Action List dialog box will open:
Figure 5. Edit Actions List Dialog Box
•Click Add to add actions to the list. Actions will be executed when the link is selected. All available actions are detailed below.
•Select actions and click Edit to adjust their settings.
•Click Add from Boomark to add 'Go to Page' actions using link targets from bookmarks.
•Click the arrow icons to move selected actions up or down in the list.
•Click Remove to remove selected actions from the list.
•Note that it is possible to add multiple actions to the list. The order of actions in the Edit Action List dialog box determines the order in which they are performed.
The following actions are available:
•Go to Page Options (Go To a Page in the Document, Go To a Page in Another Document and Go To a Page in an Embedded Document).
If you want to edit links after they have been created then click Add/Edit Link in the Home tab, click to select the link and then click the Format tab:
Figure 6. Selected Link
•Click and drag the yellow control points to resize links.
•Click and drag link boxes, or use the arrow keys, to reposition links. Hold down Shift to move at an increased increment when using the arrow keys.
•Use the editing aids detailed here to assist in the precise placement of links.
•Right-click links for further options. See here for an explanation of these options.
•Use the options in the Format tab to customize the appearance of links:
•Click Stroke Color to determine the color of the link border. Note that it is necessary to adjust the width of link borders in order for the color to be visible.
•Click Border Width to determine the width of the link border.
•Click Border Style to determine the style of the link border.
•Click Highlight Mode to determine the visual effect when the link is clicked.
•Use the Style Tools to copy/apply link tool styles:
•Click Copy Comment Style to copy the style properties of selected link annotations.
•Click Apply Copied Comment Style to apply a copied link style to the selected link annotation.
•Click Apply Copied Comment Appearance to apply copied comment properties to the selected content.
•Click Make Current Properties Default to set the properties of the selected annotation as the default properties for subsequent annotations.
•Click Apply Default Properties to apply the default link annotation properties to the selected link annotation.
•The layer to which the link belongs is detailed in the Optional Content tab. Click Current Layer to move the link to a different layer. Further information about layers is available here.
•Click Properties to view/edit additional link properties, as detailed below:
Figure 7. Link Properties Pane
•Printable is the print status of the link. If this property is enabled then the link is printed with the document. If this property is not enabled then the link is not printed.
•Locked is the locked status of the link. If this property is enabled then the link cannot be deleted and its properties (including its position and size) cannot be modified by users.
•Layer specifies the optional content layer to which the link belongs. Further information about layers is available here.
•Stroke Color determines the border color of the link.
•Border Style determines the border style of the link
•Border Width determines the border width of the link.
•Highlight determines the visual effect when the link is clicked.
•Mouse Up determines the action taken when the link is clicked. Click the ellipsis icon on the right of the action to view/edit/add actions, as detailed above.
Please note that the Add/Edit Links Tool must be selected in order to edit/delete links. It is also possible to press Ctrl+A in order to select all links in the current document when this tool is enabled.
Add Links to Barcodes
Click Add Links to Barcodes to use this feature:
Figure 8. Create Links from Barcodes Highlighted
The Add Links to Barcodes dialog box will open:
Figure 9. Create Links from Barcodes Dialog Box
•Use the Pages option to determine the page range from which the barcodes are taken:
•Select All to duplicate across all pages.
•Select Current to duplicate to only the current page.
•Select Custom to duplicate to a custom page range, then enter the desired page range in the adjacent number box. Further information about how to specify custom page ranges is available here.
•Use the Subset options to specify a subset of selected pages. Select All, Odd or Even as desired.
•Select the check box to ignore barcodes that don't contain a URL.
Click OK to create links from barcodes.
Batch Link
Click Batch Link to use this feature:
Figure 10. Batch Link Highlighted
The Batch Link dialog box will open:
Figure 11. Batch Link Dialog Box
The Batch Link feature is used to create links across multiple documents to the same location:
•Use the Add Files/Folder dropdowns to add files/folders to the list of documents to which links will be added.
•Use the blue arrow to adjust the location of documents in the list.
•Click Remove to remove selected documents from the list or Clear to clear the entire list.
•Use the options in the Manage Links section as follows:
•Click Add to add a new search term from which links will be created, then enter the desired term in the Manage Links window. The link destination will be detailed in the adjacent Destination section.
•Click Edit to edit the search term/destination of selected links.
•Click Generate to generate search terms from source documents, as detailed below.
•Click Export/Import to export/import lists of batch link terms for use with the Batch Link feature.
•Click Remove to remove selected items, or Clear to clear all items from the window.
•Click Link Options to determine settings for created links:
Figure 12. Link Options Dialog Box
•Use the Text Selection Options to determine the properties of text from which links are generated:
•Select the Font Names box to include text of specific fonts in the generation of links. Click Add to add fonts to the list, Add Custom to add custom fonts, or Delete to remove selected fonts.
•Select the Font Size box to include text of a specific size in the generation of links. Use the number boxes to determine the Size and Tolerance of text included in the generation of links. The Tolerance value determines the degree to which selected text can differ from the specified Font Size and remain included in the generation of links.
•Select the Color box to include text of a specific color in the generation of links.
•Use the Link Style settings to determine the style of created links:
•Use the Stroke Color dropdown menu to determine the stroke color of links.
•Use the Border Style dropdown menu to determine the border style of links.
•Use the Border Width dropdown menu to determine the border width of links.
•Use the Highlight dropdown menu to determine the highlight style of links.
•Use the Create Options to determine link creation options:
•Select the Use relative path box to use the relative path of files when creating links.
•Select the Create links on top of others box to place new links on top of existing links in cases where search terms match existing links.
•Use the Filter Options to determine filtering options for links:
•Select the Ignore text case box to ignore the text case when creating links.
•Select the Ignore consecutive spaces box to ignore consecutive spaces when creating links.
•Select the Match only full words box to match only full words when creating links.
Click OK to save changes.
Generate Search Terms
Figure 13. Generate Search Terms Dialog Box
This dialog box is used to auto-generate batch link search terms:
•Click Filename, Bookmark, Named Destination or Page Label to generate search terms from these elements of documents.
•Enter terms in the Search Term Filter box refine detected items.
•Click Page Region to specify a page region from which to generate terms. The Regions Selection dialog box will open:
Figure 14. Regions Selection Dialog Box
•Click Add, Delete or Remove All to add/delete/remove all page regions.
•Use the number boxes, or click and drag within the window, to determine the location and size of the page region.
•Use the Selection box to determine the regions used in the generation of links. Use the adjacent macro dropdown menu to add macros as desired.
Click OK to save settings.