Create Bookmarks From Links

Overview

Create Bookmarks From Links scans link annotations on selected pages and creates bookmarks that replicate each link’s destination. The bookmark title is extracted from the text underneath the link annotation. This is particularly useful for converting a linked table of contents into a bookmark tree.

How to use

  1. Open a PDF that contains link annotations.
  2. Go to Plug-Ins > Bookmarks > Create Bookmarks From Links.
  3. Select a page range option and enter the start/end pages or a custom range.
  4. Configure title and bookmark options.
  5. Optionally click Preview to inspect proposed bookmarks before creating them.
  6. Click OK to generate the bookmarks.

Page range

OptionDescription
To end of file Processes from the start page through the last page of the document.
To page Processes from the start page up to and including the specified end page.
Custom range Enter a comma-separated list of pages and ranges, e.g. 1-3,7,10-12.

Title options

OptionDescription
Only take first line from link Uses only the first line of the link’s underlying text as the bookmark title. Useful when a link spans multiple lines but only the first line is meaningful.
Remove leaders and page numbers Strips dot leaders (“......”) and trailing page numbers from the extracted link text, producing a clean bookmark title.

Additional options

OptionDescription
Keep existing bookmarks When checked, the current bookmark tree is preserved and new bookmarks are added. When unchecked, existing bookmarks are removed first.

Preview

Click Preview to scan links in the selected page range without creating any bookmarks. The preview list shows each proposed bookmark title, the source page (where the link is located), and the destination page (where the link points). A summary line reports the total links scanned, bookmarks to create, and any skipped entries.

Tip

Enable both Only take first line and Remove leaders and page numbers when converting a typical table of contents with dotted leaders into bookmarks.

Note

Only link annotations with a valid GoTo destination or a Dest entry are processed. Links that point to URLs or external files are skipped.

Warning

Clearing Keep existing bookmarks removes all current bookmarks before generating new ones. This cannot be undone.

See also