topic Re: Does sas ODS have any issues with these options together? in ODS and Base Reporting

Does sas ODS have any issues with these options together?

kjohnson76 — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 04:04:59 GMT

I am working with version SAS Software 9.4 (TS1M8) (Linux server)

Does SAS ODS have any issues with these options together?

ods pdf file="my_file_name" style=Custom startpage=No pdftoc=1 uniform;

%call_procedures(in_path=/&root_dir/my_program/job_submission) /* my custom macro */

ods pdf close;

I know I have not shared all the code and have not given any sample data, as is the norm. But what I am asking: does anyone know if these options have any inconsistencies to work together at the same runtime. My issue is for a large or small PDF report that has all the data I want to produced 100% correctly on output lines per table. The bookmarks do not point to the first page per table in many of my tables. I have almost 30 tables in this pdf file, for small or large entities, there can be hundreds/thousands of pages per table, and the bookmarks not working is a pain for my customers. The odd thing is some tables the bookmarks are fine and others no. I do not see a pattern, but I am still looking for it...

I am just hoping to eliminate an easy question.

Re: Does sas ODS have any issues with these options together?

kjohnson76 — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 04:08:24 GMT

PS The current logs have no warnings or errors when this process runs.

Re: Does sas ODS have any issues with these options together?

Kathryn_SAS — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 12:28:16 GMT

If you remove the STARTPAGE=NO option, do the bookmarks work as expected? I would think that turning off page breaks may impact the linking. It may also depend on if you are creating tables or graphs or adding images or a combination of all.

Also we don't know what your Custom style is doing. You can try to simplify the problem by first commenting that out. Do you still replicate the problem? If so, it is not the style. Then try commenting out STARTPAGE. Then, if you don't replicate the problem, then it could be related to the interaction with page breaks.

That being said, there are known issues with PDF bookmarks, so I would suggest opening a Case with Technical Support and send a small example with code and output that replicates the problem for them to investigate further.

Re: Does sas ODS have any issues with these options together?

kjohnson76 — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 19:58:42 GMT

'If you remove the STARTPAGE=NO option, do the bookmarks work as expected?"
No change, I am creating tables only; we have no graphs and no images at all in this given report.

"Also we don't know what your Custom style is doing. You can try to simplify the problem by first commenting that out. Do you still replicate the problem?" Yes, the problem persists.

"Then try commenting out STARTPAGE. Then, if you don't replicate the problem, then it could be related to the interaction with page breaks." Yes, I still get the issue with Startpage removed.

When I turn on the TOC, the issue goes away in many configurations, including with "all my other options turned on" -it works. I am not sure, but am checking with customers to see if having the TOC turned on is acceptable. I am hoping they will but have no idea... It does, of course, add a few leading pages to the document.

"That being said, there are known issues with PDF bookmarks, so I would suggest opening a Case with Technical Support and send a small example with code and output that replicates the problem for them to investigate further."
I will share this with my other staff to see what they say. Thank you for the assistance.

Re: Does sas ODS have any issues with these options together?

kjohnson76 — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 20:04:49 GMT

I see there is a hide feature, can that be done with PDF TOC? I did not see that as an option in the webpages for it, but it's available for the bookmarks. hehe

Re: Does sas ODS have any issues with these options together?

Kathryn_SAS — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 20:12:02 GMT

The NOBOOKMARKGEN option on the ODS PDF statement will suppress the Bookmarks. Is that what you are talking about?

ods listing close;
ods pdf file='c:\temp\test.pdf' nobookmarkgen;

proc print data=sashelp.class;
run;

ods pdf close;
ods listing;

Re: Does sas ODS have any issues with these options together?

kjohnson76 — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 20:19:21 GMT

...no I was joking. It does not really make sense to create the TOC but not display it, but that is a feature for bookmarks to hide them (you can activate them from within the output file). If I could create the TOC and hide it, I would not have this issue; my report would be 100% what my users expect.

Re: Does sas ODS have any issues with these options together?

Kathryn_SAS — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 11:54:01 GMT

There is also the BOOKMARKLIST=HIDE option on the ODS PDF statement. I would suggest that you check out all the Bookmark and Contents options documented here:

ODS PDF Statement

Re: Does sas ODS have any issues with these options together?

kjohnson76 — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 12:37:49 GMT

"There is also the BOOKMARKLIST=HIDE option on the ODS PDF statement. I would suggest that you check out all the Bookmark and Contents options documented here:"
I am sorry my joke must have run flat.
I know and understand the hide bookmarks option. It does not help me. The bookmarks are desired 'on' + 'displayed', but they have to work correctly. The only combination I have found that fixes the bookmarks for me is when the TOC is also 'on'.

Thus, the joke is about hiding the TOC and having the bookmarks work while hiding the undesired TOC. There is no TOC hide option...

Re: Does sas ODS have any issues with these options together?

Tom — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 20:36:27 GMT

Right now I have no idea how to debug your issue since I cannot recreate it.

Can your create a program using available datasets, like those in SASHELP library? Or dataset(s) you can create using simple data steps. That makes incorrect bookmarks in the PSF file?