Overview
Swap Bookmark Levels builds a second bookmark tree in which every branch is turned upside down, and adds it after the existing bookmarks. The deepest bookmark of each branch becomes a top-level bookmark, with its parents nested under it in reverse order: Chapter > Section becomes Section > Chapter. Use it when the lower level is the one readers look up first, for example a tree of Year > Customer that is wanted as Customer > Year.
The original bookmarks are kept unchanged. Each bookmark in the new tree is a copy that keeps the title, the destination or action, and the appearance of the bookmark it was made from. Top-level bookmarks without children are copied as they are. The command has no dialog.
How to use
- Open a PDF whose bookmarks have more than one level.
- Go to Plug-Ins > Bookmarks > Manage & Organize > Swap Bookmark Levels.
- A question explains what will be added and asks whether top-level bookmarks with matching titles should be merged in the new copy. Choose Yes or No (see below), or Cancel to do nothing.
- The swapped tree is added after the existing bookmarks. Save the document to keep it.
Merging matching titles
| Answer | Result |
|---|---|
| Yes | New top-level bookmarks with exactly the same title share one entry, and their children are gathered under it. With 2023 > Acme and 2024 > Acme the new tree has one Acme containing 2023 and 2024. The shared entry keeps the destination of the first of the bookmarks it stands for. |
| No | Every branch gets its own top-level entry, so the example above gives two separate Acme bookmarks, each with one child. |
| Cancel | Nothing is added. |
Note
A branch is the path from a top-level bookmark down to a bookmark that has no children, so a parent with three children gives three reversed branches. Merging applies only to the bookmarks this command adds; the original bookmarks are never merged or changed.
Note
If the document has no bookmarks, or all of them are at the top level, the command says so and adds nothing. A document whose security settings do not allow changes is refused.
Tip
If you want only the swapped tree, delete the original top-level bookmarks in Acrobat's Bookmarks panel afterwards. They come first; the swapped copy starts after the last of them.