Missing Bookmarks when exporting Book to PDF

[bbrother]

Publisher 2.5.5 (Windows)

Recipe:

1. Create an Book and add chapters. 
2. Create a TOC for the book and check Include as PDF bookmarks in the toc panel.
3. Export to PDF using either pdf preset with Include bookmarks checked.
4. Exported PDF includes bookmarks only from the first chapter.

Note:
Note: Please find time to fix this in the ongoing 2.6 beta program. Bookmarks are very important in large digital PDF files.

[Hangman]

Hi @bbrother,

Strangely I reported this exact same issue yesterday here...

I note that you've put a strikethrough through point 4... I'm curious about the circumstances under which you see more than just the first Chapter Bookmarks exported. I ask because I did find a scenario where both the first and second Chapter bookmarks were exported but only under certain conditions.

[bbrother]

58 minutes ago, Hangman said:

I note that you've put a strikethrough through point 4... I'm curious about the circumstances under which you see more than just the first Chapter Bookmarks exported. I ask because I did find a scenario where both the first and second Chapter bookmarks were exported but only under certain conditions.

Reason for strikethrough of point 4:

After further testing it turned out that:

• After exporting the book, the PDF file has bookmarks but their number and names correspond to the number and names of chapters in the book.
• Bookmarks from TOC are not generated at all even though in the toc panel Include as PDF Bookmarks is checked and during export Include Bookmarks is checked.

Expectation: 

The PDF should export with bookmarks based on toc or other ones from chapter files and included for to be exported as bookmarks not on chapter names.

[Hangman]

21 minutes ago, bbrother said:

After further testing it turned out that:

• After exporting the book, the PDF file has bookmarks but their number and names correspond to the number and names of chapters in the book.
• Bookmarks from TOC are not generated at all even though in the toc panel Include as PDF Bookmarks is checked and during export Include Bookmarks is checked.

I can confirm that bookmarks from the TOC are not generated, to be honest, the whole thing is a bit of a mess...

[bbrother]

@Hangman I did some more test with the book feature and bookmarks. It seems that the bookmark generation when exporting a book to PDF is broken. Also when testing this i found a problem related to anchors panel that makes the app to crash, if you click the Go to Anchor or double-click on anchor entry, while working with book.

Test 1:

• TOC generated,
• TOC panel: Include as PDF Bookmarks on,
• Export dialog: Include bookmarks on,
• Export dialog: Area set to All Chapters
• Result: Only one bookmark in the exported PDF. First chapter name used as bookmark name. TOC bookmarks missing.

Test 2:

• TOC generated,
• TOC panel: Include as PDF Bookmarks on,
• Export dialog: Include bookmarks on,
• Export dialog: Area set to All Chapters as Pages
• Result: The number of bookmarks corresponds to the number of chapters. Chapter names used for bookmark names. TOC bookmarks missing.

From my knowledge, the bookmark structure in the exported PDF should be based on the table of contents and other chapter files bookmarks, if they have been created and marked for export as bookmarks.

[Hangman]

@bbrother, I've tested on both Mac and Windows but have yet to see a crash when selecting Go to Anchor or double-clicking an Anchor entry so I'm unsure whether the crash is file-specific... Can you upload a test file where you see the crash so we can see if we experience the same issue?

Note, the option to double-click to go to an anchor doesn't work on Mac which I've raised here...

2 hours ago, bbrother said:

From my knowledge, the bookmark structure in the exported PDF should be based on the table of contents and other chapter files bookmarks, if they have been created and marked for export as bookmarks.

That is correct...

[bbrother]

23 hours ago, Hangman said:

Can you upload a test file where you see the crash so we can see if we experience the same issue?

I don't know if that makes sense. Yesterday I had constant crashes, but today none, so I'm a bit puzzled because I'm doing the same steps. Anyway, I'll try again from time to time to see if I can force the crash again and determine the recipe. Maybe yesterday was one of those days when the app rebelled🤔

But it is still far from working as it should and very messy namely:

• The hierarchy (parent-child) from the toc is not maintained in the Anchors panel.  Everything is on the same level, despite the Indent level is set in the toc panel. Even if you manually rearrange the bookmarks and save the chapter, after reopening everything is on the same level again.
• Depending on which chapter is open and activ, I get an inconsistent bookmark list if I choose between Current Chapter or All Chapters in the anchors panel. Very often you need to close and reopen the anchors panel to get the correct bookmark list.
• For some reason with last book chapter open and active the anchors panel is blank if you choose Current Chapter and if you choose All chapters it list only first chapter bookmarks.

Screenshot of the anchors panel:

• What you get (one level no hierarchy).
• How it should be (parent / child) (right).

In summary, you can't export a PDF from a book with the correct bookmarks created from the TOC or other bookmarks coming from chapters. It's unclear why the heck bookmarks are created from chapter names😲. The bookmark hierarchy in the Anchors panel is not preserved, the panel is a mess in general. Misery and despair. 

[Hangman]

1 hour ago, bbrother said:

The hierarchy (parent-child) from the toc is not maintained in the Anchors panel.  Everything is on the same level, despite the Indent level is set in the toc panel. Even if you manually rearrange the bookmarks and save the chapter, after reopening everything is on the same level again.

There are a few triggers for flattening the Anchor hierarchy:

• Refreshing the ToC, logged under AF-4078...
• On Mac, it appears that simply selecting the ToC without refreshing it is sufficient...
• Invoking the Export Windows, reported here...
• Closing and re-opening the file

2 hours ago, bbrother said:

Depending on which chapter is open and activ, I get an inconsistent bookmark list if I choose between Current Chapter or All Chapters in the anchors panel. Very often you need to close and reopen the anchors panel to get the correct bookmark list.

I've not been able to replicate this, for me, this is working as expected on both Windows and Mac...

2 hours ago, bbrother said:

For some reason with last book chapter open and active the anchors panel is blank if you choose Current Chapter and if you choose All chapters it list only first chapter bookmarks.

Again, I've not been able to replicate this, so I'm unsure if this is file-specific...

[bbrother]

On 11/23/2024 at 2:33 PM, Hangman said:

I've tested on both Mac and Windows but have yet to see a crash when selecting Go to Anchor or double-clicking an Anchor entry so I'm unsure whether the crash is file-specific... Can you upload a test file where you see the crash so we can see if we experience the same issue?

@Hangman I filed a separate bug report so as not to post multiple bugs in one thread and make things harder for the staff. I attached the book files. I tried to describe the problem as best I could. Sometimes it's hard for me because English is not my native language. Here's the link to the report↓

 

[Hangman]

@bbrother,

Thanks for that... I've updated your file and have re-attached the updated version in the other post...

Let us know whether you still experience the same issue regarding the Anchor Panel only partially showing content when set to All Chapters and whether the file still crashes...