I’ve had loads of problems with Word creating PDFs. Basically, whatever I have done, it fails during the PDF creation process under macOS. I have to re-open the document under Windows and create the PDF like that.
Aside from being a nuisance, I’ve had problems with some special characters/emoji which just do not work under Windows. For one example, flag emoji. That has meant a whole heap of workarounds and I have got thoroughly sick of it.
Taking the problem as a challenge, I have re-created a document from scratch in Pages. (Only copying some text as plain text.) Almost all my issues have either resolved or I’ve found another way of achieving. For my first real exposure to Pages, I’m pretty happy.
Until I export the document to PDF. Though the first part is great – Export as PDF is so fast! The PDF is very close to the view in Pages. Everything inside the DPF is wonderful including the ToC itself.
The problem is that the Table of Contents sidebar simply doesn’t work in any PDF viewer – Preview, Acrobat, multiple browsers. Nor does the Bookmarks view. Both look as if the PDF creation process managed the headers for ToC and Bookmarks - then gave up.
Even the thumbnails and contact sheet views work well!
Ironically, if I export the document from Pages as a Word document, then create a PDF from Word, the ToC works properly! (But is messes up so many other features of formatting, it would be a major effort to fully convert to Word.)
I’ve tried exporting as an EPUB – which is almost quite good. The Table of Contents works OK but there is no way of showing that in a sidebar.) And I wouldn’t wish to force readers to use EPUB. Plus several formatting options would have to be reconsidered.
And it doesn’t show Bookmarks.
Obviously, what I want is a nice simple answer. Do xxx and it will all work as it should. But I have a nasty feeling it will end up being a complete pain and the best answers would cost. (No – buying Adobe InDesign is not an option.)
And yes, I did create a super-simple Pages document with only a few lines of plain text and a ToC. That failed exactly the same.
Aside from being a nuisance, I’ve had problems with some special characters/emoji which just do not work under Windows. For one example, flag emoji. That has meant a whole heap of workarounds and I have got thoroughly sick of it.
Taking the problem as a challenge, I have re-created a document from scratch in Pages. (Only copying some text as plain text.) Almost all my issues have either resolved or I’ve found another way of achieving. For my first real exposure to Pages, I’m pretty happy.
Until I export the document to PDF. Though the first part is great – Export as PDF is so fast! The PDF is very close to the view in Pages. Everything inside the DPF is wonderful including the ToC itself.
The problem is that the Table of Contents sidebar simply doesn’t work in any PDF viewer – Preview, Acrobat, multiple browsers. Nor does the Bookmarks view. Both look as if the PDF creation process managed the headers for ToC and Bookmarks - then gave up.
Even the thumbnails and contact sheet views work well!
Ironically, if I export the document from Pages as a Word document, then create a PDF from Word, the ToC works properly! (But is messes up so many other features of formatting, it would be a major effort to fully convert to Word.)
I’ve tried exporting as an EPUB – which is almost quite good. The Table of Contents works OK but there is no way of showing that in a sidebar.) And I wouldn’t wish to force readers to use EPUB. Plus several formatting options would have to be reconsidered.
And it doesn’t show Bookmarks.
Obviously, what I want is a nice simple answer. Do xxx and it will all work as it should. But I have a nasty feeling it will end up being a complete pain and the best answers would cost. (No – buying Adobe InDesign is not an option.)
And yes, I did create a super-simple Pages document with only a few lines of plain text and a ToC. That failed exactly the same.