heading levels not displaying in PDF output

[DurtyMat]

when creating a pdf from a flare project i was getting the heading levels to automatically generate links in the bookmark tab of the pdf output, without changing any settings, they stopped creating the auto-bookmarks.

any suggestions?

[DurtyMat]

i have tried creating output with the "use toc levels for headings" (option names escapes me) enabled and disabled and haven't had any luck.... is there something simple that i am forgetting to do?

[scott]

Hi!
The "Use TOC depth for heading levels" option on the Printed Output tab is an interesting option. It reformats the headings in your topics to match their TOC level.

For example, using this TOC:
TOC book that links to Overview.htm
...TOC book that links to Topic1.htm
......TOC page that links to Topic1A.htm

would result in:
* all headings in Topic1.htm starting with h2 and going down
* all headings in Topic1A.htm starting with h3 and going down

Online, you might want each topic to start with an h1. In print, however, you might want the content to match the TOC structure. This option does that for you.

I don't think this feature is going to cause problems for your PDF bookmarks. Maybe try creating a test TOC and using that one to see if it works?

[DurtyMat]

We rebuilt the target file and are still having no luck (with the heading level on or off), the pdf comes out and provides links for all of the headings before the first chapter, then from chapter 1 - 8, only the heading 1s display ....

[scott]

It could be your TOC and/or your stylesheet.

At the point in your TOC where it starts showing only h1s, are you using a different page layout?

Also, are you using the same stylesheet for all of your topics? A style property named mc-heading-level in the printsupport group specifies how a style should appear in the TOC. By default, h1 is set to appear as a TOC level 1, h2 and level 2, etc. If you have two stylesheets, one of them might have all of the headings other than h1 set to not appear in the TOC (mc-heading-level set to 0).

[DurtyMat]

i use the following page layouts in my document:

title_page
preface
main_page <- this is where headings below h1s start displaying in the bookmarks pane

from what i can remember, nothing in the page layouts has changed....ho hum :-/

example of my problem:

toc_example.gif

PS - i checked the heading levels in the style sheet and they havent changed, all of the headings have the correct heading levels assigned :-/

[scott]

Can you temporarily "turn off" the main_page page layout in your TOC (take out the chapter break) and see if everything appears again?

[DurtyMat]

i tried every page layout i've got, including using "default" and not starting a new chapter and still had no luck

[scott]

How about creating a new TOC as a test? Try including a few of your "intro" topics and some of your chapter topics and building your PDF.

The potential causes that come to mind (in order) are your stylesheet, page layout, TOC, Distiller, and Flare. We can focus on each one till we find the culprit.

I'm assuming when it worked it was from the same PC, files, file locations, and output folder and that you haven't upgraded Distiller (or changed any settings) or upgraded Flare.

[DurtyMat]

I'll try a new TOC, but ....

i got a new laptop, so the files were moved (not same PC, file location, output folder)
they reinstalled adobe acrobat, but its not a new version
and i upgraded from 4.0 to 4.1

....so basically i tried to make this as difficult as possible.

[scott]

lol!

Definitely try the new TOC as a test. You don't have to add everything.

If the new TOC test doesn't change anything, Distiller or (possibly) Flare 4.1 could be the problem. Check to see which version of Distiller you have. I have 8, and it seems to work well. You might need to upgrade Distiller or possibly reinstall Flare after installing Distiller.

I'm about to head out for warmer temperatures (south GA), so I'll be away from the forums for awhile. South GA might not be as warm as you down in Clearwater, but it's better than Atlanta's 30 degrees!

I'll check in to see how it's going, and I'll be glad to help again if you still need it.

[DurtyMat]

thanks for all the help, enjoy southern ga ... clearwater is doing much better it was like 50 degrees this morning! i'll try the new TOC and see what happens, i checked and i have distiller 8 ... so i am hoping i don't have to deal with a flare reinstall :-/

[ScottR]

I'm seeing the same disappearing heading links without any apparent reason that was reported in this discussion. The only change I made to the project was a tweak to the formatting of autonumbering in chapter titles. When I first made that tweak, the links still showed up. Then after generating the PDF a couple more times, they disappeared. I've tried the suggestions like changing page styles (like the original reporter, I'm getting the subheads from the Preface, but not from the chapters), but without luck.

[DurtyMat]

from a madcap support email .... (i think i can post these)

"Thank you for sending the project. This issue is due to some headings using autonumbering styles. This is an issue our developers are aware of and working to resolve. The bug is being tracked as item 26181 in our development database."