Word to PDF and Maintaining Table of Contents

How do you, using a PDF Printer Driver, convert an MS Word document into a PDF file and maintain the Table of Contents and hyperlinks? Here's how...

(This assumes you use Pdf Factory Pro. You can get a free trial version at http://www.fineprint.com)

1. Save your original Word document and work on a second copy.

2. Using the second copy, remove the table of contents automatically generated by MS Word.

3. Identify the Bookmarks (i.e., Heading 1, Heading 2, etc) and make sure that each bookmark has a unique font size and style. It's easy with the help of Stylesheets.

(Pdf Print Factory will automatically build the PDF Table of Contents when you specify which fontname/size/style goes with which Heading Number.)

4. You'll need to make your hyperlinks in your MS Word document visible. Instead of a clickable "Click here" you'll need to display http://www.blahblah...com/longurl../page.html

5. If you wish, you can use redirect links at your site for the displayed links. That will help make your PDF file everlasting, because you can easily update the links on your site. Plus, when people print your PDF file, your domain name will appear often (branding purposes).

You could also try an online solution: http://www.docupub.com - upload your document and then get back a PDF version. I just don't know where a copy of your original document goes, so if it is confidential, you might want to try something else.

Here's one which I heard can maintain your Word TOC and hyperlinks. I'll test it next week.

RoboPDF (15-day trial)
http://www.macromedia.com/software/robopdf/

[ First posted on 06/09/2004 by Manuel Viloria ]