Overview
The Bookmarker component of TOC Builder focuses on creating, modifying, and cleaning up bookmarks in PDF documents. It provides a comprehensive set of tools to generate bookmarks from page text, annotations, links, or word lists, and to apply consistent formatting across an entire bookmark tree.
All Bookmarker commands are available under Plug-Ins > Bookmarks in Adobe Acrobat.
Menu location
By default, TOC Builder commands appear directly under the Plug-Ins menu. If you prefer, you can group them under a Plug-Ins > Mapsoft submenu by enabling Place under Mapsoft menu in Plug-Ins > Mapsoft Preferences. Acrobat must be restarted for the change to take effect.
Creating bookmarks
Bookmarker offers several methods for generating bookmarks automatically. Choose the method that best matches the structure of your source document.
From page text content
Use Create Bookmarks From Text to scan page text with regular expression patterns. Matched text becomes the bookmark title, and the destination is set to the page and position where the match was found. This is the most flexible method and works well for documents with consistent heading styles.
From links and annotations
- Create Bookmarks From Links — converts existing link annotations into bookmarks, preserving link text and destinations.
- Create Bookmarks From Annots — generates bookmarks from annotation content such as sticky notes or highlight comments.
From a word list
Create Bookmarks From Word List accepts a list of phrases and searches the document for exact matches. Each match produces a bookmark. Use unique, unambiguous phrases to avoid false positives.
From text fields
Create Bookmarks From Text Fields uses saved text field definitions (managed via the Manage Text Fields dialog) to locate specific page regions and extract text for bookmark titles.
Adding a single bookmark
Add Bookmark From Page creates a single bookmark pointing to the currently viewed page. This is useful for quick, manual bookmark creation.
Cleaning up bookmark titles
After generating bookmarks, titles often need normalisation. Cleanup Bookmark Titles provides batch operations including:
- Normalise case (Title Case, UPPERCASE, lowercase, Sentence case)
- Remove extra whitespace and leading/trailing spaces
- Strip or fix numbering prefixes
- Search and replace text across all bookmark titles
Sorting and reordering
Sort Bookmarks reorders the bookmark tree by title text, destination page number, or date patterns. You can sort all levels, just the top level, or a specific range of levels. See the Sort Bookmarks help topic for full details.
Add/Remove Leading Numbers inserts or strips sequential numbering prefixes (e.g. “1. ”, “1.1 ”) to reflect the bookmark hierarchy.
Formatting and styling
Bookmark appearance is controlled by two properties: style (Normal, Bold, Italic, Bold Italic) and colour. Use Modify Bookmark Attributes to apply consistent formatting across selected bookmarks or the entire tree.
Differentiating heading levels by style and colour makes complex outlines easier to navigate. For example, use bold for top-level bookmarks and normal weight for sub-items.
Automation and batch operations
For large or repetitive workflows, Bookmarker supports several batch operations:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Search and Replace | Update bookmark titles in bulk using literal text or regular expressions. |
| Offset Bookmarks | Shift all bookmark destinations by a fixed number of pages — useful when pages are inserted or removed. |
| Flatten Bookmarks | Collapse a multi-level hierarchy into a single level. |
| Merge Bookmarks | Combine bookmark trees from multiple sources into a single outline. |
| Toggle Bookmark Tool Window | Keep the Acrobat Bookmarks panel visible while working with other tools. |
Bookmark creation tips
- Start with the highest-level headings first to build a clean top-level structure, then add sub-levels incrementally.
- When using a word list, include unique phrases to avoid ambiguous matches across pages.
- Use Preview options where available to validate matches before applying changes to the document.
- Save your regex patterns to the Regular Expression Library for reuse across documents.
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| Unexpected or duplicate bookmark titles | Check for hidden text or multiple regex matches on the same page. Refine your pattern to be more specific. |
| Bookmark destinations point to the wrong location | Verify page labels vs. page numbers. Use Offset Bookmarks if pages were inserted or removed after bookmark creation. |
| No bookmarks generated from text search | Ensure the search pattern matches the actual extracted text. Some PDFs use non-standard character encodings that affect text extraction. |
| Help page does not open | Confirm the help files are installed alongside the plug-in, or check the help server URL in your configuration. |
Tip
Combine multiple Bookmarker features in sequence for best results: first generate bookmarks from text, then clean up titles, sort by page number, and finally apply formatting by level. This workflow produces a professional, consistent bookmark tree.