Using HYPERLINKS to navigate DATA SHEETS

Thread Starter

camerart

Joined Feb 25, 2013
3,724
Hi,
I have quite a lot of difficulty reading DATA SHEETS, mainly because they are not always written clearly for many of us.

One of my difficulties is that many instructions refer to other pages, which in turn refer to other pages, and so on, which is confusing.

I have just tried to make this easier for me, by adding HYPERLINKS where there is a reference to another page.

This isn't going as well as I'd hoped! I opened the D/S in LIBRA OFFICE, then added HYPERLINKS as I want them, but I haven't been able to save the PDF and open it again successfully. I can get it to work sometimes though.

Has anyone got any suggestions please?

Camerart.
 

Wolframore

Joined Jan 21, 2019
2,609
I have one but it costs money... we have adobe acrobat pro which can pull apart pdf and edit. I'll give it a try...

It works by adding page links in the document. It adds a box around the hyerlink area and the destination but I'm sure there's other ways to format this.

the link:
upload_2019-4-18_8-42-36.png

desitnation:
upload_2019-4-18_8-42-22.png

There may be free versions of acrobat editor but we use Adobe...
 

BobaMosfet

Joined Jul 1, 2009
2,110
datasheets are by definition not written for your clarity, they are written by vendors (competing against other vendors) to shed their component product in the best possible light. Half of understanding a datasheet, is reading between the lines to what the vendor is actually telling their product capability is, and the rest is understanding the concepts and ensuing equations for calculating thermal junction temperatures and current curves, load lines and q-points so you can operate the component in its sweet spot (or at least understand where that is). Max ratings of a component don't mean it can actually be operated at the Max, there are factors that must be accounted for, calculated, and compensated.
 

Thread Starter

camerart

Joined Feb 25, 2013
3,724
I have one but it costs money... we have adobe acrobat pro which can pull apart pdf and edit. I'll give it a try...

It works by adding page links in the document. It adds a box around the hyerlink area and the destination but I'm sure there's other ways to format this.

the link:
View attachment 175231

desitnation:
View attachment 175230

There may be free versions of acrobat editor but we use Adobe...
Hi W,
Thanks,
I have an old version, which has converted the D/S to a DOC, but then it lost much of it's sense.
I checked the price of Acrobat and it's too much for my amateur use.
It appears that Libre office is my best route, so I'll persevere.
C.
 

Thread Starter

camerart

Joined Feb 25, 2013
3,724
datasheets are by definition not written for your clarity, they are written by vendors (competing against other vendors) to shed their component product in the best possible light. Half of understanding a datasheet, is reading between the lines to what the vendor is actually telling their product capability is, and the rest is understanding the concepts and ensuing equations for calculating thermal junction temperatures and current curves, load lines and q-points so you can operate the component in its sweet spot (or at least understand where that is). Max ratings of a component don't mean it can actually be operated at the Max, there are factors that must be accounted for, calculated, and compensated.
Hi B,
Reading between the lines!!! I have difficulty enough reading the lines :)
Cheers, C.
 
Last edited:

Thread Starter

camerart

Joined Feb 25, 2013
3,724
Hi,
I have been learning how to use Libra office to help me use DATA SHEETS.

Here's my first try:

Open it with a browser, e,g, Firefox, Chrome, Goto page 13. All of the RED links are HYPERLINKS, the BLUE one is before adding the HYPERLINK to it.

Any ideas, before I go too far please? I can give instructions if anyone's interested.
C
 

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SLK001

Joined Nov 29, 2011
1,549
I add hyperlinks with Adobe Acrobat when I have to. Sometimes they are protected from change, which means that I have to first run the .pdf thru a program called "PDF Decrypter", which removes ALL security from the document.

PDFs are a real pain in the butt to edit.
 

Papabravo

Joined Feb 24, 2006
21,159
Datasheets are subject to periodic revision. In that case your choices are to update your edits or do the process over again. Personally I don't think it is worth the time to keep doing this especially if your datasheet library grows non-linearly, like mine has always done.
 

djsfantasi

Joined Apr 11, 2010
9,156
It might be simpler just to highlight the cross references. Or instead of a hyperlink, add the page #s to the cross reference (the .pdf page #s; not the datasheet page #s)
 

Thread Starter

camerart

Joined Feb 25, 2013
3,724
I add hyperlinks with Adobe Acrobat when I have to. Sometimes they are protected from change, which means that I have to first run the .pdf thru a program called "PDF Decrypter", which removes ALL security from the document.

PDFs are a real pain in the butt to edit.
Hi S,
Libra office is free (Consider a donation) and it appears to be working ok, and once saved as a PDF, is then locked, when used in a browser. Seems fine for me.
C.
 

Thread Starter

camerart

Joined Feb 25, 2013
3,724
It might be simpler just to highlight the cross references. Or instead of a hyperlink, add the page #s to the cross reference (the .pdf page #s; not the datasheet page #s)
Hi D,
I have a paper D/S, that I've been highlighting with coloured markers, and found that I follow a highlight to another page, then after a series of follows, forget where I was when I started, so hopefully, with hyperlinks, I can jump forward and backward to suit me. Many, are able to do this without problems.
C
 

Thread Starter

camerart

Joined Feb 25, 2013
3,724
Datasheets are subject to periodic revision. In that case your choices are to update your edits or do the process over again. Personally I don't think it is worth the time to keep doing this especially if your datasheet library grows non-linearly, like mine has always done.
Hi P,
Once edited, I'll simply carry on using the same D/S.
C.
 

Thread Starter

camerart

Joined Feb 25, 2013
3,724
Hi,
Here's the D/S I've been working on:
It's for a compass chip used on earlier iphones. AK8963C
I have added Hyperlinks to help me navigate a bit quicker than paper D/S flipping, where previously, I forgot what I read a couple of pages back.
These are set for my preferences, where I was getting tangled up before. Let's see if they help!
Open the PDF in a browser and click on the read links.
C
 

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