How To Create A Digital Manual

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Creating Parts

2. Merging Parts

3. Creating Links

4. Creating a Home button

5. Updating a part

CREATING PARTS

A “part” is a single item/document within a manual. This can be a policy, procedure or document of any kind (word,

excel, pdf, etc.) that is to be included in the manual.

*Once all of the individual “parts” are determined and created I would suggest renaming the files so they are in

the order you would like them to be when you merge them into one PDF document. The image below is an example of

how to do this:

MERGING PARTS

Once you have all the parts created that you want to include in the manual you are will then merge them into one PDF

document to create the manual.

1. Open the folder that includes all of the individual “parts” of the manual

2. Highlight all of the parts in your manual

3. Right click and choose “Combine supported files in Acrobat…”

4. When the “Combine Files” window appears check the order of your parts. If all of your parts are in the correct

order click “Combine Files”. Otherwise you will need to select the file to be moved and use the Move Up and

Move Down options to place the document in the correct location.

*This process can take a few minutes; depending on the number of files that are being combined.

5. Once the process is done all of the parts selected will be combined into one PDF file creating your manual.

6. Save the manual to the location of your choosing.

INSERTING LINKS

Inserting links is a crucial step in creating a digital manual. Links allow users to quickly navigate to the information they

are looking for. Without these links the manual would be difficult for staff to navigate and eventually could be

underutilized.

1. Open the PDF manual that was created and

navigate to the first section you would like to

add a link to

2. Highlight the text you would like to add a link

to

3. Right click and choose the “Create Link” option

4. The “Create Link” window will appear

a. Make sure “Link Type” is set to “Invisible

Rectangle” then click the “Next” button

5. When the “Create Go to View”

window appears, scroll to the page

you would like the link to take the

user to then click “Set Link”

6. Your link has now been created!

CREATING A HOME BUTTON

A Home button is a necessary component for digital manuals. With a home button users are able to quickly return to

the Table of Contents, instead of having to scroll to the beginning of the manual each time they need to find a new

subject.

1. Find an image that you would like to use for you home button.

*I simply googled “home button” and found the one I will be using for this

instruction.

2. When you have found an image save the image in a location for later.

3. Open the manual and navigate to the page you

would like to add a home button

4. On the options menu click “Tools”

a. Click the “Content” drop down

b. Then choose “Button”

* These options are circled to the right

5. Place the button where you would like your

home button to be

6. Click “All Properties”

7. In the Common Properties section change the “Form Field” drop

down from “Visible” to “Visible but doesn’t print”

8. Click the “Appearance” tab

9. Change “Fill Color” to “No Color”

10. Click the “Options” tab

11. Change the “Layout” drop down from “Label only” to “Icon only”

12. In the bottom right click “Choose Icon…”

13. Find your “home” button image

14. Click “OK”

15. Click the “Actions” tab

16. Under the “Select Trigger” drop down choose “Mouse Up”

17. Under the “Select Action” drop down choose “Go to a page view”

18. Click the “Add…” button

19. The “Create Go to View” window

appears, scroll to the page you want

the home button to take you to and

click “Set Link”

20. Resize and position the button as

needed

21. Right click the button you just created and choose the option

“Duplicate…”

22. Choose if you would like the home button to be on all pages or

specify what pages you would like the home button to be on

23. Click OK

24. Now your home button has been duplicated to all of the pages you

specified

25. Once you have duplicated the button

to every page click the selection tool or

the pan hand

UPDATING A PART OF YOUR MANUAL

Manuals may need frequent updates for policy and procedure changes.

1. Update and save the part you want in its original format (word, excel, pdf, etc.)

2. Open the manual to be updated

3. Scroll to the page that needs to be replaced

4. Click “Tools” in the top right and choose the

“Pages” drop down

5. Under the Pages menu click “Replace”

6. Choose the part you are wanting to replace

* If you cannot find your file make sure that

the “Files of type:” field is set to “All Files

(“*”)”

7. When the “Replace Pages” window pops up

choose the number of pages to replace and

click “OK”

* Even if you only changed one page of a three

page document you must replace all three

8. Once the page has been replaced you will

notice that all of the links are still in place

including the home button you created in the

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