Hyperlinks don't update when pages change

[000]

1) Create document with several pages

2) Create hyperlink with a particular page as destination

3) Add pages before the destination page

Result: Hyperlink links to the same page number as before, but not to the pages with the same content (because page numbers have changed)

Expected Result: Hyperlink updates and links to the same content even if the page number changes

[walt.farrell]

If you want to link to the same content, shouldn't you link to an anchor set in the pages content, instead of to the page number?

Given that page content can move even if you don't add pages before the existing page, that's the only safe way to make the hyperlink adjusts.

[thomaso]

10 hours ago, Jens Krebs said:

Result: Hyperlink links to the same page number as before, but not to the pages with the same content (because page numbers have changed)

Expected Result: Hyperlink updates and links to the same content even if the page number changes

~ Explanation: page numbers of page icons are not flexible (are stupid) – different to page numbers of sections. APub doesn't offer sections as hyperlink option, hyperlink page numbers always refer to the page icon numbers, in case of double page numbers among sections always the first occurrence of a certain page number gets used as page hyperlink. Page numbers created by sections may exceed the total amount of page icon numbers, those aren't available as page hyperlink option.

Workaround: requires an Anchor instead, optionally with an object in page size.

 

[000]

@walt.farrell @thomaso
Thanks for the tips. For this project I'll work with anchors to page-sized transparent objects, even though it feels more like a work-around than a proper solution.

I guess the current hyperlinks work fine in a text flow, but not in my particular case of 100-page document without flowing text, but with 26 sections (which I had to manually renumber after adding a page in the middle of the first section). I know where these issues come from, understand the logic behind them and see that the current functionality makes sense in most cases. Still hope hyperlinks (and sections too) get a bit of a attention for the next release.

[walt.farrell]

42 minutes ago, Jens Krebs said:

For this project I'll work with anchors to page-sized transparent objects, even though it feels more like a work-around than a proper solution.

Why do you need extra objects?

Don't you have something on the page already that you can simply add an anchor to?

[000]

33 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Why do you need extra objects?

Don't you have something on the page already that you can simply add an anchor to?

To make sure that even the strangest PDF viewer (and believe you me, there's things out there you wouldn't believe ...) jumps  to the full page view and doesn't, for example, think it's a great idea to zoom in on a single object or letter.

[Old Bruce]

1 hour ago, Jens Krebs said:

To make sure that even the strangest PDF viewer (and believe you me, there's things out there you wouldn't believe ...) jumps  to the full page view and doesn't, for example, think it's a great idea to zoom in on a single object or letter.

In order to avoid this weird jumping in the PDF viewers I am fairly certain that the invisible thing you link to only needs to be the height of the page. But that will save you no real time or effort.

[thomaso]

2 hours ago, Jens Krebs said:

full page view

52 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

I am fairly certain (...) only needs to be the height of the page

Bruce, did you experience it? I wonder because an anchor has to be text and therefore must have both a certain position within its text frame + a certain font size.

In the attached PDF are two empty artistic text frames, each containing an anchor only. – While in Acrobat both links seem to force a full page (spread) view, in macOS Preview each anchor seems to force a jump to the top position of its according text frame but none of both to full page view. – Can one confirm / falsify this behavior for Acrobat or Preview?

v191 anchor to page.pdf

 

 

[walt.farrell]

1 minute ago, thomaso said:

wonder because an anchor has to be text

No, you can put an anchor on other objects, too. It's a bit misleading that you have to use the Text menu to do it, but it works for any kind of object layer.

[thomaso]

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

No, you can put an anchor on other objects, too. It's a bit misleading that you have to use the Text menu to do it, but it works for any kind of object layer.

Interesting, seems to work indeed. Though it also appears not to force full page view reliable, even if the anchor is assigned to a full page rectangle shape object.  v191 anchor to page 2.pdf

In APub unfortunately such an anchor doesn't show up the indicating anchor symbol as it does if defined in a text frame. Or am I misusing it?

[walt.farrell]

2 minutes ago, thomaso said:

In APub unfortunately such an anchor doesn't show up the indicating anchor symbol as it does if defined in a text frame. Or am I misusing it?

The anchor symbol is text, and without a text object to hold it you can't see it. You can only find it via the Anchors (or possibly Hyperlinks) panel.

[thomaso]

7 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

The anchor symbol is text, and without a text object to hold it you can't see it. You can only find it via the Anchors (or possibly Hyperlinks) panel.

Hm, odd concept of UI & UX if wysiwyg for text works selectively only.

– Are you sure the anchor symbol is text? Is it a Unicode glyph like the paragraph symbol? And/or wouldn't it appear as text if the exported PDF gets converted to e.g. .DOC, .HTML or .XML?

[walt.farrell]

45 minutes ago, thomaso said:

Hm, odd concept of UI & UX if wysiwyg for text works selectively only.

– Are you sure the anchor symbol is text? Is it a Unicode glyph like the paragraph symbol? And/or wouldn't it appear as text if the exported PDF gets converted to e.g. .DOC, .HTML or .XML?

All I can say is that it appears inline in text, and doesn't appear when you have an anchor that is not within text. So in that regard it acts like text.

What form it takes when exported in a PDF file, or in copy/paste, may be different.

So, you could be right that it's not actually text, per se. It also doesn't seem to copy/paste as anything in text format.