Bookmarks That Print: Outline Plus a Contents Page
Readers who print a manual never see the sidebar. Adding a contents page in front gives them the same map, provided the numbers on it match the pages they turn to.
Why this comes up
A document assembled from several sources often has headings but no outline, and the printed copy needs a table of contents the source files never carried. Adding one at the end changes the page numbers of everything behind it.
Check before you run it
- Decide whether the contents page belongs in the file. The option adds a generated contents page before page one and lists every bookmark and sub-bookmark with its page number. Leave it off when the file is only read on screen or when the page count must not change.
- Expect the inserted page to shift the count. The contents page counts itself, so a chapter that started on page 12 is shown on page 13 once the sheet is added. The outline still points at the right content; it is the printed number that moves.
- Type targets explicitly when the order is not sequential. A line can end with @ 7 to send that entry to page 7, and indentation nests it under the line above. Without a target, entries walk down the document one page at a time.
When to reach for it
- A printed manual needs a table of contents as well as an outline. Generate the tree from the headings, keep the contents page, and let the printed numbers include it.
- A document's outline is right but its printed copy has no map. Build the outline from the existing headings with the auto-detect pattern, then add the contents page for the paper version.
One question we get
Why add bookmarks to a PDF?
They give the reader a table of contents — click straight to a chapter in any viewer. Existing outlines can be renamed, renumbered or extended too.
Where it fits
The tools people usually open next to Create Bookmarks:
- Page Numbers — Apply page numbering to PDF files.
- Extract Images — Save each image from the PDF as a separate file
- Grayscale — Make a PDF text and images grayscale
Every tool works on a copy, so the original file is never touched. Uploads are stored under an unguessable id and deleted automatically two hours after you last open them; nothing is listed, shared or indexed. More on the security page.