How do I reset the part of a chapter?

Question

I'm currently writing my diploma thesis in LaTeX and I have a pretty nasty problem. Our group consisted of 3 candidates whereby everyone had its own part. However, these parts (which are also formatted as a "part" in LaTeX) are in between different sections of our diploma thesis.

Well, that wouldn't be a problem in a printed version but since we're using hyperref for the .PDF TOC, LaTeX adds the last couple of sections (e.g. conclusion) to the last part and not to the "general document". However, my problem now is how do I reset these parts, that the finishing sections are not appended at the last "candidate part".

You can see an explanation of my problem in the graphic below. - Candidate A, B, C are parts - 1, 2 & 3 are sections whereby 3 should be on the same level as the other ones

\documentclass[english]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{luainputenc}
\usepackage{color}
\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage[unicode=true, 
            bookmarks=true,
            bookmarksnumbered=false,
            bookmarksopen=false,
            breaklinks=true,
            pdfborder={0 0 0},
            backref=false,
            colorlinks=true] {hyperref}
\hypersetup{pdftitle={Test}, pdfauthor={FT}}
\begin{document}
\section{Introduction}
\section{Abstract}
\part{Candidate A}
\part{Candidate B}
\part{Candidate C}
\section{Conclusion}
\end{document}

Answer 1

Yes, \parts are hierarchically higher than \sections. So, once you use \part, all following \sections will be placed under them unless you intervene. bookmark allows for this:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[unicode=true, 
            bookmarks=true,
            bookmarksnumbered=false,
            bookmarksopen=false,
            breaklinks=true,
            pdfborder={0 0 0},
            backref=false,
            colorlinks=true] {hyperref}
\hypersetup{pdftitle={Test}, pdfauthor={FT}}
\usepackage{bookmark}
\begin{document}
\section{Introduction}
\section{Abstract}
\part{Candidate A}
\part{Candidate B}
\part{Candidate C}
\bookmarksetupnext{level=0}% Correct bookmark for next \bookmark
\section{Conclusion}
\end{document}

\bookmarksetupnext{<opts>} sets the \bookmark-related options for whenever \bookmark is called next. Since the default for \section is to be placed at level 0 (the root) when no other higher-level sectional unit it present, we just reset it to level=0.