Bookmark Setup and Section Variables

[Oran Petersen]

I followed a couple of recent threads: Bookmarks and Section variables, and offer the following information based on painful experience on these topics. 

Bookmarks in Books: 
You can choose Paragraphs (or Elements if you have structured files) 
As mentioned in the thread, settings chosen during Save As PDF do not stick. 
The ‘Magic” is in the first file in the book and in the book itself. Other files can have different tags, but ALL desired bookmark tags must be in the first file. 
Import Paragraphs from the first file into the book to be sure that they are available in both. 
Select all files in the book, including the top level book entry. 
Then, from the menu: Format > Document > PDF Setup... make your selections and click Set. 
Be sure and save the book. 
You have now permanently saved your settings in this book and in all the files in this book.

In a related thread, a user was having trouble NOT selecting a undesired paragraph as a bookmark. This happens for paragraphs that are used somewhere in the body pages, but are NOT in the paragraph catalog. We had this trouble when adding a text column with a paragraph tag during publishing operations. Even though we were using elements, this stray tag destroyed the PDF bookmarks. The twisted logic is simple. If the paragraph is not in the catalog, you can’t deselect it. But by default, Frame selects it for you. To fix, add the errant tags to the paragraph catalog and set up your book as discussed above. De-select the new entries during setup and you are good to go. 
Note: If you are using elements, you must still choose paragraphs and follow the full procedure above, including the save, for the setting to take. You cannot just choose and switch back to elements. After the save you can reselect elements and save again.

Elements used for bookmarks follow similar specifications. ALL elements desired for bookmarks must be in the first book file and in the book EDD. In addition, the bookmark hierarchy directly mirrors the element hierarchy. You cannot choose the hierarchical relationship during setup as you can for paragraphs. Setup is otherwise the same as for paragraphs. 

Section and Sub-section variables 
These were a much welcomed addition for us, but the Frame folks decided to hook them to the new book hierarchy, rendering them mostly worthless for our purposes. From the thread I sense that others are confused and frustrated as well. 
>From the book, open the numbering dialog and you see that Section and Sub-section are grayed out. Create a folder (not group), add a file to the folder, open numbering, and you see Section available, but Chapter and Sub-section are grayed out. Add a folder at this 2nd level, add a file and Sub-section becomes available, but Chapter and Section are not. We cannot use hierarchical books due to processing operations, so we are not happy. 
Adobe: Can you hear us now? Disconnect the variables from the books please. 
Oran Petersen