Create PDF Bookmarks: Add a Clickable Outline

1. 00

   What's great about our PDF bookmark maker

   • Your files never leave your device. Everything happens right in your browser.
   • Bookmarks from a list, from headings, or for every page.
   • Up to three levels.
   • Replaces old bookmarks or leaves them, as you choose.
   • Pages, text and links stay exactly as they were.
   • Free, no limits, no watermark, and it works offline after your first visit.
2. 01

   Add your PDFs

   Choose PDFs or drag them into the preview. Use Add More to add others later.

3. 02

   Choose how to make them

   • Pick 'From My List', From Headings or One for Every Page. For a list, type one bookmark on each line.
   • Click Add Bookmarks. Each PDF gives a copy with a clickable outline.
4. 03

   Add Bookmarks and download

   Click Add Bookmarks, then Download. Change any option and the button goes back to Add Bookmarks, ready for another run. Several files download together as a ZIP.

5. 04

   Loved it?

   • If you're on computer, bookmark this page to your browser.
   • If you're on mobile, add it to your home screen for one-tap access and offline use.
     • Android: Visit this page in Google Chrome > tap three-dot icon (⋮) at top > Install and create shortcut.
     • iPhone and iPad: Visit this page in Safari > tap menu icon in address bar > Share > Add to Home Screen.

How it works

The bookmarks are written into the outline of the PDF, each pointing at its page. From Headings reads the text of every page and picks the lines that are larger than the body text.

The result is checked against the original: it must have the same pages, with the same text, sizes and links.

Frequently asked questions

• Is my PDF uploaded anywhere? No. Everything happens in your browser, on your device. Your PDF is never sent to a server.
• What are bookmarks for? They are the outline in the side panel of a PDF viewer. A click jumps to the page. A long PDF without them is hard to move around in.
• Where do I see the bookmarks? Open the saved PDF in a PDF viewer. In Preview on a Mac, choose View, then Table of Contents (Preview does not open it by itself). In Adobe Acrobat, open the Bookmarks panel. In Chrome and Edge, open the side panel. Some viewers inside a web page, such as Safari's, do not show bookmarks at all.
• How do I write the list? One bookmark on each line: the title, then a vertical bar or a comma, then the page, such as Introduction | 1. Start a line with one or more dashes to put it under the bookmark above: - Background | 2 is a sub-bookmark.
• How does From Headings work? The pages are read, and lines of text that are larger than the body text and short are taken as headings. The largest size is level 1, the next level 2, and so on. It works for PDFs made on a computer, not for scans.
• The headings it found are wrong. Why? Large text is not always a heading: a page title, a quote or a header can be big. Check the result in a viewer, or write the list yourself.
• What happens if the PDF already has bookmarks? Choose 'Replace' to put the new ones in their place, or Skip to leave PDFs that already have bookmarks as they are.
• Which PDFs are not supported? Password-protected PDFs cannot be changed. Digitally signed PDFs can be processed, but rewriting the file invalidates the signature.

What happens to your file

Nothing is uploaded, stored on a server or tracked. Your files stay in your browser's memory until you remove them or close the page. The new PDF is made on your device. The original is not changed.

How to get the most out of it

• Open the result in a viewer and check a few bookmarks.
• Remove old bookmarks first with Remove PDF Bookmarks if you want a clean start.
• Add a Table of Contents page from the bookmarks with Add Table of Contents Page.