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Parameters for Opening PDF Files

Adobe Acrobat SDK

April 2007 Version 8.1
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Adobe Acrobat SDK 8.1 Parameters for Opening PDF Files for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and UNIX
Edition 1.0, April 2007
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 Contents

Preface .......................................................................................................................................... 4
Who should read this guide? ..................................................................................................................................................... 4
Related documentation ............................................................................................................................................................... 4
Parameters for Opening PDF Files ............................................................................................. 5
Parameters........................................................................................................................................................................................ 5
Specifying parameters in a URL ................................................................................................................................................ 7
URL examples ............................................................................................................................................................................ 8
URL limitations .......................................................................................................................................................................... 8

3
 Preface

This document describes the parameters you can use when opening Adobe PDF files. These parameters
allow you to open a PDF file using a URL or command that specifies both the file to be opened and the
actions to be performed once the file is opened.

Who should read this guide?

This guide is for developers who want to customize the way PDF files open. It may be useful for those
developing an online collaboration system.

Related documentation
For information about See

Configuring and administering a system for online Acrobat Online Collaboration: Setup and
collaboration using comment repositories, Administration
Adobe Acrobat, and Adobe Reader

A detailed description of the PDF file format PDF Reference

Detailed descriptions of the APIs for Acrobat and Acrobat and PDF Library API Reference
Adobe Reader plug-ins, as well as for PDF Library
applications

4
 Parameters for Opening PDF Files

You can open a PDF document with a command or URL that specifies exactly what to display (a named
destination or specific page), and how to display it (using such characteristics as a specific view, scrollbars,
bookmarks, annotations, or highlighting).

The parameters for URLs are supported by most browsers, and can be used when opening PDF documents
programmatically.

Many of these parameters can be passed to the following core API functions (see the Acrobat and PDF
Library API Reference for details):
AVDocOpenFromFileWithParamString
AVDocOpenFromASFileWithParamString
AVDocOpenFromPDDocWithParamString

When opening a PDF document from a command shell, you can pass the parameters to the open
command using the /A switch with the following syntax:
<Acrobat path> /A "<parameter>=<value>" "<PDF path>"

For example:
Acrobat.exe /A "zoom=1000" "C:\example.pdf"

In Mac OS, you can use the parameters when opening a PDF document with an Apple event.

Parameters
The following table describes the parameters. Italics indicate user-specified variables.

Syntax Description

nameddest=destination Specifies a named destination in the PDF document.

page=pagenum Specifies a numbered page in the document, using an integer

value. The documents first page has a pagenum value of 1.

comment=commentID Specifies a comment on a given page in the PDF document. Use

the page command before this command. For example:
#page=1&comment=452fde0e-fd22-457c-84aa-
2cf5bed5a349

5
Adobe Acrobat SDK Parameters for Opening PDF Files
Parameters for Opening PDF Files Parameters 6

Syntax Description

collab=setting Sets the comment repository to be used to supply and store

comments for the document. This overrides the default comment
server for the review or the default preference. The setting is of the
form store_type@location, where valid values for store_type are:
DAVFDF (WebDAV)
FSFDF (Network folder)
DB (ADBC)
For example:
#collab=DAVFDF@http://review_server/Collab
/user1
For more information on comment repositories, see Acrobat
Online Collaboration: Setup and Administration.

zoom=scale Sets the zoom and scroll factors, using float or integer values. For
zoom=scale,left,top example, a scale value of 100 indicates a zoom value of 100%.
Scroll values left and top are in a coordinate system where 0,0
represents the top left corner of the visible page, regardless of
document rotation.

view=Fit Set the view of the displayed page, using the keyword values
view=FitH defined in the PDF language specification. For more information,
view=FitH,top see the PDF Reference.
view=FitV
view=FitV,left
Scroll values left and top are floats or integers in a coordinate
view=FitB system where 0,0 represents the top left corner of the visible
view=FitBH page, regardless of document rotation.
view=FitBH,top Use the page command before this command.
view=FitBV
view=FitBV,left
Note: This parameter is not supported on the command line.

viewrect=left,top,wd,ht Sets the view rectangle using float or integer values in a

coordinate system where 0,0 represents the top left corner of the
visible page, regardless of document rotation.
Use the page command before this command.
Note: This parameter is not supported on the command line.

pagemode=bookmarks Displays bookmarks or thumbnails.

pagemode=thumbs
pagemode=none (default)

scrollbar=1|0 Turns scrollbars on or off.

Adobe Acrobat SDK Parameters for Opening PDF Files
Parameters for Opening PDF Files Specifying parameters in a URL 7

Syntax Description

search=wordList Opens the Search panel and performs a search for any of the
words in the specified word list. The first matching word is
highlighted in the document.
The words must be enclosed in quotation marks and separated by
spaces. For example:
#search="word1 word2"
You can search only for single words. You cannot search for a
string of words.

toolbar=1|0 Turns the toolbar on or off.

statusbar=1|0 Turns the status bar on or off.

messages=1|0 Turns the document message bar on or off.

navpanes=1|0 Turns the navigation panes and tabs on or off.

highlight=lt,rt,top,btm Highlights a specified rectangle on the displayed page. Use the

page command before this command.
The rectangle values are integers in a coordinate system where
0,0 represents the top left corner of the visible page, regardless of
document rotation.

fdf=URL Specifies an FDF file to populate form fields in the PDF file being
opened. For example:
#fdf=http://example.org/doc.fdf
Note: The fdf parameter should be specified last in a URL.

Specifying parameters in a URL

You can specify multiple parameters in a single URL. Separate each parameter with either an ampersand
(&) or a pound (#) character. Actions are processed and executed from left to right as they appear in the
URL.

Because all specified actions are executed, it is possible that later actions will override the effects of
previous actions, so it is important to use the correct order. For example, page actions should appear
before zoom actions.

Commands are not case sensitive except for the value of a named destination. There can be no spaces in
the URL.
Adobe Acrobat SDK Parameters for Opening PDF Files
Parameters for Opening PDF Files URL examples 8

URL examples
http://example.org/doc.pdf#Chapter6
http://example.org/doc.pdf#page=3
http://example.org/doc.pdf#page=3&zoom=200,250,100
http://example.org/doc.pdf#zoom=50
http://example.org/doc.pdf#page=72&view=fitH,100
http://example.org/doc.pdf#pagemode=none
http://example.org/doc.pdf#pagemode=bookmarks&page=2
http://example.org/doc.pdf#page=3&pagemode=thumbs
http://example.org/doc.pdf#collab=DAVFDF@http://review_server/Collab/user1
http://example.org/doc.pdf#page=1&comment=452fde0e-fd22-457c-84aa-2cf5bed5a349
http://example.org/doc.pdf#fdf=http://example.org/doc.fdf

URL limitations
Only one digit following a decimal point is retained for float values.
Individual parameters, together with their values (separated by & or #), can be no greater then 32
characters in length.
You cannot use the reserved characters =, #, and &. There is no way to escape these special characters.
If you turn bookmarks off using a URL parameter when a document had previously been saved with
bookmarks on, the bookmark scrollbars are displayed at first, and only disappear once Acrobat obtains
enough streamed information to render the full page.