Greek pdf bookmarks

Question

I am puzzled with sections titled with Greek characters. They do appear in the pdf's Content list, though not correctly.

For example, in my thesis--written in English with LyX, based on the KOMA-script--I choose to include a translation of the summary in Greek (=Περίληψη). The "raw" code for the (unnumbered) chapter title reads: \addchap{\textgreek{Per\char208lhyh}}. In the final .pdf file (using pdflatex) the respective entry appears as Per208lhyh. Using the unicode option for the hyperref package does not fix the problem.

Update detail: the document (should) not only contain Chapter or Section titles in Greek, but normal text as well.

I have found some relevant references within tex.stackexchange and elsewhere (e.g., https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/21675/8272, the manual of the textgreek package, http://www.latex-community.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=6059, http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Comp/comp.text.tex/2005-12/msg00944.html). However, I cannot extract a concrete answer.

How can Greek characters appear correctly as bookmarks in the .pdf's Content list?

Note, the information of this Q&A applies to/under LyX as well.

Answer 1

The following works: one has to pass the unicode option to hyperref and also a correct Unicode string for the bookmark:

\documentclass{scrbook}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[greek,english]{babel}
\usepackage[unicode]{hyperref}
\usepackage{bookmark}
\begin{document}
\mainmatter
\chapter{Introduction}
An introduction.

\cleardoublepage
\begin{otherlanguage}{greek}
\addchap{\texorpdfstring{Per'ilhyh}{Περίληψη}}
Per'ilhyh
\end{otherlanguage}

\end{document}

Unfortunately, the utf8x option to inputenc that would allow to use the Greek alphabet for the language is not compatible with the bookmark system of hyperref.

Answer 2

With the new greek-fontenc and updated greek-inputenc packages, you are now able to use Greek Unicode characters in the LaTeX source (and the utf8 "LaTeX encoding" option in LyX).

Together with \usepackage[pdfencoding=auto]{hyperref} his solves the problem with PDF-strings.

Alternatively, Greek LICR macros (like \textalpha ... \textomega) can be used. See the package documentation.

Answer 3

A minimal working example that answers the raised question about Greek in a PDF's Content (index or bookmark or however it might be called correctly) along with Greek text in the body (of course!):

\documentclass[greek,english]{scrbook}
\usepackage[LGRx,T1]{fontenc} % define LGR and T1 encodings
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} % standard UTF-8 input encoding
\usepackage[greek,english]{babel}
\usepackage[unicode]{hyperref}
\usepackage{bookmark}


\begin{document}
\mainmatter

\addchap{\texorpdfstring{Ambivalence/\textgreek{Amfijum'ia}}{Ambivalence/Aμφιθυμία}}

\textit{Ambivalence}, catalyst in spreading the great disease which is called Fear.\\
\begin{otherlanguage}{greek}
\textit{Aμφιθυμία}, καταλύτης στην εξάπλωση της μεγάλης νόσου που ονομάζεται Φόβος.
\end{otherlanguage}

\end{document}

It also works when using [english,greek] (instead of [greek,english]):

\documentclass[english,greek]{scrbook}
\usepackage[LGRx,T1]{fontenc} % define LGR and T1 encodings
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} % standard UTF-8 input encoding
\usepackage[english,greek]{babel}
\usepackage[unicode]{hyperref}
\usepackage{bookmark}


\begin{document}
\mainmatter

\selectlanguage{english}
\addchap{\texorpdfstring{Ambivalence/\textgreek{Amfijum'ia}}{Ambivalence/Aμφιθυμία}}

\textit{Ambivalence}, catalyst in spreading the great disease which is called Fear.\\
\\
\begin{otherlanguage}{greek}
\textit{Aμφιθυμία}, καταλύτης στην εξάπλωση της μεγάλης νόσου που ονομάζεται Φόβος.
\end{otherlanguage}

\addsec{\texorpdfstring{Small and Ending sigma: \textgreek{σ}~and~\textgreek{ς},~\textgreek{Mikr'o kai Telik'o s'igma: sv kai s}}{Small and Ending sigma: σ and ς, Μικρό και Tελικό: σ και ς}}

\foreignlanguage{english}{However, in LyX, both sigma~(\textgreek{\textit{σ, ς}})~in a Greek text, do not appear correctly in the Contents of a PDF file}! Why?
\begin{otherlanguage}{greek}\\
\\
Ωστόσο, στο \foreignlanguage{english}{LyX}, και τα δυο σίγμα~(\textit{σ, ς})~σε ελληνικό κείμενο, δεν εμφανίζονται σωστά στα περιεχόμενα ενός αρχείου \end{otherlanguage} PDF! Γιατί;

\end{document}

A LyX (not-so-)Minimal Working Example

#LyX 2.0 created this file. For more info see http://www.lyx.org/
\lyxformat 413
\begin_document
\begin_header
\textclass scrbook
\begin_preamble
\usepackage{bookmark}
%\usepackage{kerkis}

\usepackage[LGRx,T1]{fontenc} % define LGR and T1 encodings
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} % standard UTF-8 input encoding
\end_preamble
\options iso-8859-7,latin9,utf8
\use_default_options true
\begin_modules
fixltx2e
fix-cm
logicalmkup
\end_modules
\maintain_unincluded_children false
\language greek
\language_package default
\inputencoding utf8
\fontencoding global
\font_roman default
\font_sans default
\font_typewriter default
\font_default_family default
\use_non_tex_fonts false
\font_sc false
\font_osf true
\font_sf_scale 100
\font_tt_scale 100

\graphics default
\default_output_format default
\output_sync 0
\bibtex_command default
\index_command default
\float_placement h
\paperfontsize default
\spacing single
\use_hyperref true
\pdf_title "Ελληνικοί χαρακτήρες στα περιεχόμενα αρχείου PDF"
\pdf_author "Νίκος Αλεξανδρής"
\pdf_subject "Ελληνικοί χαρακτήρες στα περιεχόμενα αρχείου μορφής PDF"
\pdf_keywords "ελληνικά, ελληνικοί χαρακτήρες, pdf, latex, utf8, content, bookmarks, hyperref"
\pdf_bookmarks true
\pdf_bookmarksnumbered false
\pdf_bookmarksopen false
\pdf_bookmarksopenlevel 1
\pdf_breaklinks true
\pdf_pdfborder true
\pdf_colorlinks true
\pdf_backref page
\pdf_pdfusetitle true
\pdf_quoted_options "unicode=true"
\papersize a4paper
\use_geometry false
\use_amsmath 0
\use_esint 0
\use_mhchem 0
\use_mathdots 0
\cite_engine basic
\use_bibtopic false
\use_indices false
\paperorientation portrait
\suppress_date true
\use_refstyle 0
\boxbgcolor #f0f0f0
\index Index
\shortcut idx
\color #008000
\end_index
\leftmargin 10mm
\topmargin 20mm
\rightmargin 20mm
\bottommargin 15mm
\secnumdepth 1
\tocdepth 0
\paragraph_separation skip
\defskip medskip
\quotes_language english
\papercolumns 1
\papersides 1
\paperpagestyle default
\bullet 0 0 9 -1
\bullet 1 0 8 -1
\tracking_changes false
\output_changes false
\html_math_output 0
\html_css_as_file 0
\html_be_strict false
\end_header

\begin_body

\begin_layout Chapter

\lang english
Introduction
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\lang english
Introductive text...
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
addchap{
\backslash
texorpdfstring{Per'ilhyh}{
\backslash
textvarsigma~
\end_layout

\end_inset

 και 
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
textsigma}}
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\lang english
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
textit{Ambivalence}, catalyst in spreading the great disease which is called
 Fear.
\backslash

\backslash

\end_layout

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash

\backslash

\end_layout

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
begin{otherlanguage}{greek}
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\lang english
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
textit{
\end_layout

\end_inset


\lang greek
Aμφιθυμία
\lang english

\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

}
\end_layout

\end_inset


\lang greek
, καταλύτης στην εξάπλωση της μεγάλης νόσου που ονομάζεται Φόβος.
\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\lang english
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
end{otherlanguage}
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\lang english
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
addsec{
\backslash
texorpdfstring{Small and Ending sigma: 
\backslash
textgreek{
\end_layout

\end_inset


\lang greek
σ
\lang english

\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

}~and~
\backslash
textgreek{
\end_layout

\end_inset


\lang greek
ς
\lang english

\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

},~
\backslash
textgreek{Mikr'o kai Telik'o s'igma: sv kai s}}{Small and Ending sigma:

\end_layout

\end_inset


\lang greek
σ
\lang english

\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

 and 
\end_layout

\end_inset


\lang greek
ς
\lang english

\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

, 
\end_layout

\end_inset


\lang greek
Μικρό και Tελικό: σ και ς
\lang english

\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

}}
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\lang english
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
foreignlanguage{english}{In LyX, the ending sigma~
\backslash
textgreek{
\backslash
textit{
\end_layout

\end_inset


\lang greek
ς
\lang english

\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout

}}~~in a text with greek does not appear correctly in the Contents of a
 PDF file}!
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard

\lang english
\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
begin{otherlanguage}{greek}
\end_layout

\end_inset


\end_layout

\begin_layout Standard
Στο

\lang english

\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
foreignlanguage{english}{LyX},
\end_layout

\end_inset


\lang greek
 το τελικό σίγμα σε κείμενο με ελληνικά δεν εμφανίζεται σωστά στα περιεχόμενα
 αρχείου
\lang english

\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
foreignlanguage{english}{PDF}
\end_layout

\end_inset


\begin_inset ERT
status open

\begin_layout Plain Layout


\backslash
end{otherlanguage}
\end_layout

\end_inset


\lang greek
!
\end_layout

\end_body
\end_document

Credits go to Günter Milde. See also:

• http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg91078.html
• https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/13077/8272

Answer 4

As the other TeXnicians suggested, XeLaTeX and hyperref with the unicode option should work perfectly even without the \texorpdfstring command, both for utf8 and utf8x encodings (I have tried that many times without any problems). If not, check out your LyX settings (I don't know much about them since I don't use that program).

However, from experience I would recommend that you stick with iso-8859-7 encoding and pdflatex, because:

1. Greek hyphenation in utf8, utf8x in (pdf)LaTeX is flawed for diphthongs containing an accented vowel, (e.g. ού, εί, οί). You will discover hyphenations like ε- ίναι, απορροφο- ύν, οπο- ίους etc. Of course, you could add a progressively longer \hyphenation{} list in your preamble, but this quickly becomes a mess. Note that this problem does not appear in XeLaTeX.
2. If your text includes math formulas with extensive use of sub/superscripts, XeLaTeX with unicode-math gives suboptimal typesetting results.
3. LuaLaTeX does not yet support greek hyphenation at all.

But then, how would you include greek bookmarks? As a minimal example, the following should do:

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage[LGR,T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[iso-8859-7]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english,greek]{babel}
\usepackage[unicode]{hyperref}

\begin{document}

\chapter{\texorpdfstring{Περίληψις \textlatin{Summary}}{\textPi\textepsilon\textrho\textiota\textlambda\texteta\textpsi\textiota\textvarsigma Summary}}

\end{document}

That is, just use the LaTeX greek symbol name commands prefixed with "text". For me, it works perfectly, with the only drawback that I haven't found out (yet) how to include accented vowels (e.g έ, ί, ά). You can use an html editor to transform greek text to (roughly) the required pdf bookmark string, but you can of course type it directly as well.

I hope this helps.