Print to PDF - table of contents

Question

Level 1

11 points

Print to PDF - table of contents

How does one create a table of contents in the sidebar of Preview app? All my PDF's display a "no sections" message in the sidebar when I select "Table of Contents" (TOC's). I see that the user's manuals from Apple have TOC's in the sidebar but I cannot find any reference to how these were created.

Thanks

iBook, Mac OS X (10.5.4), 1 Gb RAM

Posted on Sep 7, 2008 8:15 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 7, 2008 2:43 PM in response to trdupont

Hi trdupont

With Pages.app, this is not possible (a search in the forums would tell you). It's a shame.
With OpenOffice you'll get what you want for free.

--greg

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Answer 2

orangekay

Level 5

4,085 points

Sep 7, 2008 2:51 PM in response to trdupont

Those manuals were more than likely put together in InDesign. Simply printing a document gives no indication as to the sort of structure you want it to have.

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Answer 3

Sep 7, 2008 3:07 PM in response to orangekay

Info on 10.5 server docs reads:
PDF Producer: Adobe PDF Library
Content Creator: Adobe InDesign CS 3

On 10.4 server docs it's
Acrobat Distiller 6.0.1 for Mac and FrameMaker 6.0

However, i disagree when you say printing a document gives no indication on the structure: It depends on what you send to the PDF printer.
As I said, with OpenOffice 2.4.1 you'll get a TOC in your PDFs. OpenOffice is likely to have some other PDF library than the Apple software based on Cocoa and Carbon.

--greg

Message was edited by: madconqueror

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Answer 4

trdupont Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 7, 2008 5:40 PM in response to trdupont

My feedback to Apple:
"As pertains to the Apple Discussions Forum, I will not allow myself to be further abused by your members. If this is how Apple Discussion Group members are treated, I am ashamed to counted amongst your numbers. Questions are met with animosity and disrespect, and total disregard for the effect such disregard might have on an individual. I am shocked and dismayed that Apple might host a forum that so traumatizes a person with private disclosure."

You should all remember that you, once, did not know all that you presently know. Some of us have to rely on your learning, unfortunately! I will seek other avenues, because you are obviously too caught up in your own being. May you die knowing that your end is the beginning.

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Answer 5

Sep 8, 2008 12:15 PM in response to trdupont

Harsh words in return for me saying:
- search the forums before posting
- use OpenOffice if you want a PDF with TOC (here's the link: http://www.openoffice.org/index.html )

When I said: "It's a shame" I meant "I feel your pain". It's a shame Apple's software (like Pages.app) isn't yet able to produce a TOC in PDFs. I need this too - I found a solution some day ago, that I was offering you: OpenOffice.

The other guy wanted to direct you to this: http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/
This is commercial software, you have to pay for it as opposed to OpenOffice.

I hope you can accept my apologies that I obviously offended you without knowing. You're three line question with three letter words made you seem quite computer savvy.

--greg

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Answer 6

orangekay

Level 5

4,085 points

Sep 8, 2008 12:22 PM in response to trdupont

I'm willing to bet that the only reason you bought a computer was to help you write a lot of frothing letters to the editor of your local newspaper.

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Answer 7

Sep 8, 2008 12:22 PM in response to trdupont

Here's the complete How-To (be warned: it is as complex as in Pages.app or in Word - therefor it's quite extensive):
http://documentation.openoffice.org/HOWTO/word_processing/HowTo_Create_and_Maintain_aTOC.pdf

The good thing is: To get a PDF with a TOC in the sidebar, after you followed the how-to, all you have to do is to export your document as a PDF from OpenOffice.
Again, this is not possible with Pages.app.

--greg

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Answer 8

Sep 8, 2008 12:22 PM in response to orangekay

Me?

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Answer 9

Sep 8, 2008 12:27 PM in response to trdupont

Just a last note (a short version of the how-to I provided):

In order to get a TOC (be it in the beginning of a document or in the sidebar of your PDF viewer), you need to apply styles to your headings. OpenOffice decides upon these styles whether a line of text should be treated as a heading (which will show up in your Table Of Contents) or just as the body of your text (which will not be in the TOC).

--greg

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