How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

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rakunavi
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How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by rakunavi »

Hello all,

Is it possible to specify a rectangular area and select multiple links that exist within that area in PDF-XChange Editor? I can't find a tool equivalent to the Select Object tool in Acrobat (corresponds to B in the following list). Also, in Acrobat, you can select multiple links by clicking the first link in a range and then Shift+clicking the links at the end of the range (corresponds to E in the following list), but the PDF-XChange Editor seems to support the same operation only in the Links pane.

In summary, my understanding of the link selection method in the links pane and document view is as follows. I would like to know how to perform the operations equivalent to (B) and (E) in the document view.

  • On the Links pane
    1. Single selection by mouse single click
    2. Multiple selection by dragging the mouse over a range
    3. Selection of all links by shortcut key Ctrl + A
    4. Additional selection individually by Ctrl + Click
    5. Click the first link in a range and then Shift+click the links at the end of the range
  • On an active document view
    1. Single selection by mouse single click
    2. Not present?
    3. Selection of all links by shortcut key Ctrl + A
    4. Additional selection individually by Ctrl + Click
    5. Not present?
For reference, here is a video showing how Acrobat opens a file containing 10 links per page, selects the top 5 links, and then deletes them. It corresponds to B in the list.

Thank you for taking the time to read this message.

Best regards,
rakunavi

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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, rakunavi

At the moment, you are correct, we do not offer these options. If you need to select multiple links, you will need to Ctrl+Click on them each individually or use the "links" pane to select a group of links for quick handling.

I will pass this along as a feature request for you, hopefully we can see some improvement in the handling of links in the future.

#6306: FR: improve link handling

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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by rakunavi »

Thank you, Daniel, for creating the ticket!

In my PC environment, it takes about 15 seconds per 1000 links to display an item in the links pane. If it takes more than a minute to display all the links, using the links pane becomes tedious. In the future, it would be helpful to have other options that can be used without having to open the links pane as described above.

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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Hi Rakunavi,

hopefully that feature Dan requested for you will help. I discussed this with the development team and we will see what we can do to improve the load time of that Links Pane, but it is a relatively heavy process and there may not be a lot we can do.

Links in PDFs are literally a box in the page with coordinates. There is absolutely no association with text or content other than the fact that they share the same coordinates on a page. This means that for every link object we must find the location of the object and then parse the page to see what is in the same location, then, if it is readable text, we pull it and associate it with the link in that pane. It is all done "on the fly" because the specifications themselves have no mechanism to tie the content to the link. This is why PDF links are never referred to as "hyperlinks" or even more specifically "Hyper Text" because they aren't. They are link objects that associate with no content.

So that's the explanation of why the process is so intense, the Feature request Dan made you should help, and we will also do what we can to optimize that load, but it is going to be a challenge, we cannot predict how much improvement we will be able to extract, but we will try.

I hope that helps.
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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by rakunavi »

Hi Paul, thank you for your comment.

The display speed of the "Links" pane is currently fast enough. If I want more than that, all I have to do is buy a new computer with higher performance. :D

Once you open the Links pane, you can close the pane and continue to build the database as long as you don't close the file, which is very satisfying. It is really wonderful that even if the number of links exceeds 10,000, it still processes the links without error until the end. I use the Links pane primarily for import and export functions, so I can wait long enough.

I apologize for the lack of words in my message. Thank you very much for all your efforts.

Best regards,
rakunavi
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How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

:)
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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by rakunavi »

Hello all,

I would like to add to the above request.

I often place a link over text comments. PDF-XCE's comment selection tool only allows selection of comments, so I have to select and move comments and links separately. It would be nice to be able to move the link at the same time as the comment. With Acrobat's Object Selection Tool, you can select comment and link together and move them.

Also, if the comment is completely covered by a link, PDF-XCE does not seem to allow me to select the comment and move it by dragging it with mouse. I can move the comment by using the arrow keys on the keyboard after selecting it with the comment selection tool, but is there any way to move the comment with mouse? With Acrobat's Object Selection Tool, the link does not work, so you can operate it with mouse.

For your reference, I have included a video of the operation in Acrobat as an attachment.

If a link is set above the typewriter annotation, you can select both together with the object selection tool and drag them with mouse. I have been trying to find a way to achieve the same objective in PDF-XCE with the same ease, but I can't figure out how to do it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this message.

Best regards,
rakunavi

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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by David.P »

Hello all,

I agree with the feature request by rakunavi.

I also often put links over comment text and then find that comments can no longer be selected when they have a link assigned to them.

I also agree with rakunavi that it would be helpful if a text box could be selected and moved together with an associated link.

Further, it would be extremely useful to be able to select some text within a text box, and then assign a Goto link to the selected text -- just as you can do with any base text on the page.

Currently, for example, if you select a word within a text box and then press the hotkey to create a link (I believe that the hotkey has to be assigned first, as there does not seem to be a standard hotkey for the Create Link command):

Image

...then a link is created that is as large as the entire text box.

Thanks for considering this feature request,
Best regards,
David
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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by rakunavi »

Hi David.P,
David.P wrote: Sun Dec 11, 2022 9:22 pm Further, it would be extremely useful to be able to select some text within a text box, and then assign a Goto link to the selected text -- just as you can do with any base text on the page.
Thank you for your always exquisite advice. As was the case with your last comment, I admire David.P for knowing things that are not even mentioned in the manuals.

  • https://forum.pdf-xchange.com/viewtopic.php?p=153822#p153822
I am surprised that there was a way to create these links. This is off topic, but I am very interested in the feature to set up bi-directional links as requested in the following topic and am attempting to do so myself using autohotkey and other tools. The above shortcut would be a great help in making script.

  • How to Create Reciprocal Links Inside a Single File, Between Two Files?
    https://forum.pdf-xchange.com/viewtopic.php?t=38185
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rakunavi
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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by PHK »

@rakunavi

are you having this 'problem' in Exclusive mode?
All best,

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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by rakunavi »

Hi PHK, thank you for your advice.

It is true that Exclusive mode is useful when a link is present and you want to add a comment on top of it.

  • https://forum.pdf-xchange.com/viewtopic.php?p=158527#p158527
However, it should not help in the situation I pointed out above, such as when selecting a comment behind a link and moving it with mouse. I believe this will probably have to wait for the implementation of "#6269: FR: Adding the ability to turn off hyperlinks". PHK commented that it was implemented in build 365, but I have not been able to confirm it with my build 365.

  • Turning off Hyperlinks
    https://forum.pdf-xchange.com/viewtopic.php?t=39061
Note that #6269 is only a request for the ability to temporarily disable links, so it should be different from my request to select and move comments and links together by the comment selection tool.

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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by PHK »

rakunavi wrote: Mon Dec 12, 2022 1:11 am .... PHK commented that it was implemented in build 365, but I have not been able to confirm it with my build 365...
It was more a question than advice. I accept your observation; I had not confirmed it in use, either. Nor have I attempted to replicate your conditions. It is just that it is easy to forget where Exclusive Mode helps and where it does not in many situations.
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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Yes.

in 365 we added the option to change the way links work:
image.png
By selecting for example CTRL+click for hyperlinks you should be able to then work with other content at the same coordinates without the link tool taking precedence.
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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by rakunavi »

Hi Paul and PHK, thank you for your comments.
Paul - Tracker Supp wrote: Mon Dec 12, 2022 4:00 pm By selecting for example CTRL+click for hyperlinks you should be able to then work with other content at the same coordinates without the link tool taking precedence.
Even if you change the setting to something other than Click, it doesn't seem to be possible to move the comment placed in the background of the link by dragging it after selecting it with mouse. I have attached a brief verification video below. The first half of the video shows the verification with the setting set to Click, and the second half shows the verification with the setting set to Ctrl+Click. The red border is a link.

I wouldn't go further into the contents of RT#6269 because it is off this topic, but it won't be enough to simply disable the link from being clickable. Users want to temporarily disable the link in order to manipulate comments or base contents placed in the background of the link. In that sense, the feature seems to be still under development in build 365.

To get back to the original topic, I would highly appreciate if Tracker team could have an opportunity to discuss whether or not to adopt the feature of moving links and comments together.

  • https://forum.pdf-xchange.com/viewtopic.php?p=165499#p165499
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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, rakunavi
rakunavi wrote: Tue Dec 13, 2022 12:34 am To get back to the original topic, I would highly appreciate if Tracker team could have an opportunity to discuss whether or not to adopt the feature of moving links and comments together.

viewtopic.php?p=165499#p165499
For the moment this is not a priority, but the Dev team is aware of the demand for such a function, and we are looking at ways to adapt our systems to handle this. We also noticed how Adobe has a system in place for moving base content text with a link above it, and bringing the link along as well, despite the link itself not even being selected. Both of these are items that have seen some requests over the years, and will be looked it with time, but I would not expect either anytime soon.

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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by PHK »

An alternative thought:

How about adding the "Actions" functionality that is a present "property" in Bookmarks to the Comments properties?

That would open up the many possible "actions" in Comments that could include links, among many other things. Obviously, the Actions functionality exists; it might be just adding the entry in the drop-down boxes for comments to access it. Rakunavi, would that work for you?

See attached illustration of what Comments Properties could look like:

Action Properties for Comments.pdf
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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, PHK

I Believe that Rakunavi already expressed that is another issue and did not want to bog down this thread with semi-off topic discussion, but allow me to answer this suggestion.

Sadly, the properties available to comments are set by the PDF specification, and after speaking with the Dev team leader, he has confirmed that it is not possible for comments like the typewriter to contain these JS actions like links and form fields do, so this would not be a solution or something we could made a feature request ticket for even if it "would" be helpful in theory.

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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by PHK »

OK, thanks, Daniel, just a thought.
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How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

:)
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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by rakunavi »

Hi Daniel and PHK, thank you for your comments.

I am relieved to know that the developers already know the situation. I pray that one day they will create some amazing feature that will surprise us all and surpass Adobe's implementation. Until then, I'll just hang on with my fossilized, ancient Acrobat X.

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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello, rakunavi

Sounds good, I too hope that it isnt too long of a wait.

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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by David.P »

Hello all,

A workaround I usually apply is to first select the comment (the same goes for page content) and then use Shift + Cursor keys to quickly move things on the page as desired.

Then I select and move the corresponding link using Shift + Cursor keys as well.

This way, the link can be placed exactly at the same position as the comment or the page content that was moved before.

HTH and keep up the great work,
David
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How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

:)
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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by rakunavi »

Hello all,

I know this is off topic from the main topic, but the issue of not being able to easily manipulate comments or base content behind links has not yet been improved in build 382.

  (Examples)
  • The text in the text box comment cannot be edited.
  • Highlighted markers cannot be added to the text of base content.
Currently, I can work around the issue by putting the links on a separate layer and hiding the layer containing the links only when I want to manipulate the comment or base content.

With Drawboard PDF, you can edit comments without such workarounds.
I continue to look forward to the day when this issue is improved.

Best regards,
rakunavi
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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by David.P »

Hello all,

I agree, and bear with me posting that attachment another time (see items #2 - #3 with respect to the Links issue).

Best regards
David.P

image.png
Text Selection with Highlights and Links.pdf
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Re: How to select multiple links existing in a rectangular area?

Post by Jordan - Tracker Supp »

Hi All,

I have sent a request for an update for the ticket #6306.

Best regards,
Jordan
Best regards,
Jordan
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