Linking to Destinations

Once a destination has been created it needs to be linked to so that when the user clicks on the bookmark or link the PDF file will be opened to the Destination location that was created. Unlike a Bookmark or Hyperlink to a specific page, destinations are not affected by the addition or deletion of pages within the document.

How to Link to a Destination in a PDF

There are 3 ways to link to a Destination set within a PDF file.

Bookmark to Destination

Create a bookmark by doing one of the following:
- Go to the Pages Tab > Bookmarks, or use the shortcut key Ctrl + B (⌘ + B on Mac)
- Click the add bookmark button at the top of the bookmark panel
  - Note: If the bookmark panel is not visible (this happens when a document doesn't have any bookmarks defined), click on the icon on the left side of the PDF Studio window
- Right click on an existing bookmark and go to Add in the right click menu and select Before or After
Right click (Mac: Ctrl + Click) on the bookmark you wish to link to a destination and choose Properties in the mouse menu.
Click on the Edit button below the Bookmark Actions section
Choose either Go to a page in this document or Go to a page in another document
Select the Destination option and then choose the named destination from the drop down
Click OK to apply the changes

Now when the Bookmark is clicked it will navigate to the specified destination.

PDF Link to Destination

Select the Link tool by clicking the in the Pages Tab on the toolbar or using the shortcut key Ctrl + Alt + K (⌘ + Alt + K on Mac)
Click and drag to select the area that you wish to make a link (Note: Hold the Shift key while drawing to create a perfect square.)
- You can also select the desired text area and right-click on the selected text ( Ctrl + Click on Mac), choose "Create Link" in the context menu.
After the link annotation is added, the Link Properties dialog is displayed.
In the link options choose either Go to a page in this document or Go to a page in another document
Select the Destination option and then choose the named destination from the drop down
Once complete, click OK to create the link

Now when the link is clicked it will navigate to the specified destination.

Webpage Link to Destination

If the PDF file is stored on a web server Destinations can also be used in an HTML URL to point to a specified destination by adding #[destination name] to the end of the links URL.

Note: This requires the browser or PDF viewer plugin (currently supported by most major applications) to support the destination property in the URL. If it does not it will just open to the first page of the document.

For example, the following Web URL will open a destination named "index" in a PDF file named sample.pdf:

http://www.example.com/sample.pdf#index

Or, you can use this HTML tag in a web page to open the destination named "index" in a PDF file named sample.pdf: