Inserting link into a PDF

Part of my workflow is to import Journals as PDFs into DEVONthink Pro Office and then quite regularly I extract certain articles again as PDFs and move them to a sub-group, the final step is to make a link to the full journal and paste it into an annotation to the extract, long-winded but I find it necessary for later work. What I would like to do is to somehow insert the link into the extract itself and thus do away with the annotation—is there a way to accomplish this?

It’s Monday morning this side, which no doubt explains why I’m struggling a bit to follow what you’re a.) doing currently, and b.) want to do instead… :blush:

I think I might have suggestions, but that’s assuming I’m understanding the above… Which I’m not. :wink:

Could you maybe elaborate a bit more?

Or - just ignore me, and wait for one of the old pro’s to wade in with something amazing! 8)

Essentially paste a link to another document into a PDF, (or somehow attach one to, the link is obtained by Menu>Edit>Copy Item Link).

You can do that - but, unless I’m not configuring it correctly, when you click on that link, it takes you to that other document. Presumably you wan’t to stay with your current document, and have the linked document open up elsewhere?

Edit: Oh wait, I can open the link in another tab, would that do?

I DO want to go to the other document!

Great - but as I now realise, you can do both - move over to the other one, or open in new tab.

I’m hoping what I’m about to say is actually new information, and what you need, as opposed to my not understanding, and you already doing it - but will take some screengrabs, and pop up something in a bit!

Here be some screengrabs of what I do - hopefully, this is what you could use!

1.) Copy the Item Link of the PDF you want to link back to (or even, the Page Link).

2.) In the PDF that you want to create the link to, click on the [Link Annotation] button.

PDF link_001.png

3.) Drag a ‘block’ over the area where you want the link [space] to be - upon releasing, the annotation context pop-up menu appears.

Note the blue block on the left, that’s where I dragged - you want to make it the right size to be able to hit it.
Not shown here: Optionally, insert a ordinary ‘text’ annotation saying something like “Click here to link to PDF XX” down first. Drag the “Link” annotation block over that initial annotation. That way, when your cursor moves over the “Click here…” annotation, it changes to the ‘hand’ icon, and you can click to jump.

The reason for the above, I cannot get the ‘link block’ to otherwise be visible. Might be doing something wrong - but in the annotation mode I use, you won’t see anything, unless you happen to hover over that invisible ‘link block’, and the cursor changes. My workaround is to first make a text annotation note to myself, that is visible, and drag the ‘link block’ around it…

Hope that makes sense! :slight_smile:

3.) Select the “Link Type” at the bottom of the popup menu, and select URL.
PASTE the URL you copied in step 1, in that block. Clicking on the link space, will now trigger that URL pasted here.

PDF link_003.png

Continues below [image limit!]

4.) Insert the URL link from step 1.

PDF link_004.png

5.) The “X” marks the spot of the [invisible] link space. Hovering the cursor over it, changes from the triangular pointer, to the hand icon. Simultaneously, the blue URL link appears at the top, underneath the toolbar, confirming your destination!

Clicking it, and the new PDF is opened.

6.) RIGHT-clicking it, and the contextual menu opens up, giving you the option to rather open the link in a new tab.

PDF link_006.png

You can obviously also use the steps above, to build-in links to other pages/sections of the PDF you are currently in, which is useful in those lengthy ones without Contents Pages, or - where they have ENDnotes… Allows me to jump between the sentence, and its endnote right at very end of the article/chapter, without all the scrolling. I simply repeat the process wherever the endnote is, linking back to the original sentence.

[Edit: PS - instead of selecting “URL” at the “Link Type”, one could select “Link Within PDF”. That works by you selecting it, then scrolling to the page inside that PDF you want to link to, with the annotation menu still open, and then, upon ‘arriving’ at the relevant page, hitting the “Set” button (that replaced the “Link Within PDF” when it was selected initially). I don’t use this, preferring my method above, as it involves too much scrolling, and can only take you to the page, as opposed to the spot where the link url was inserted.]

Hope this helps?

And if someone has advice on the easier way - or, how to make the link-space visible, please share. The process works, but is a bit cumbersome - would be nice if it were something to be improved in upcoming versions!

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Thanks for this, it works a treat :slight_smile: Cheers.

Pleasure! Glad it did.

Took me a while to figure it out - the manual is a bit sparse on this, doesn’t really explain the steps.

The [invisible] “field” that gets created, also had me thinking I was doing something wrong, since I couldn’t work out how to ‘trigger’ the link. Trial and error in the end.

As mentioned, hope the powers that be can make some small(?) adjustments, to make the process a bit more user-friendly.

I agree about the usability as really there are more steps to doing it this way rather than what I have been doing, i.e. creating an annotation! What would be great of course, would be if you could simply paste a link directly into a pdf! But we can not have everything. I shall give it a go but at the moment think that the annotation route may be the more practical.

Seems a bit complicated. I find it easier just to use the Text tool to add some text that will prompt me to the PDF, then use the link tool to select a region on top of the prompt and add the link. No need to futz around with hidden regions. This is what my personal versions of the annotation scripts do.

Or – if all you are doing is linking the PDF to the annotation file, then paste the annotation’s item link into to the URL field of the PDF (in the Info panel). But, wait – the annotation template already does this automatically.

That’s really what I’m doing - but you just managed to say it in 1 paragraph, as opposed to my taking up the whole blinkin’ page! 8)

^^ This, if you’re only going to be referring back to 1 pdf from where you’re at! I presumed Allsop needed to refer to more than 1(??)
If not - then ignore everything I wrote, and go with korm’s suggestion instead!

Er, “past the annotation’s link” --> “paste…”

That is all I am wanting to do. As usual korm you have managed to discern from my original ramblings what I wanted :slight_smile: Thanks to both Cassady & korm for your help.