Merge Duplicate Bookmark Titles

Overview

Merge Duplicate Bookmark Titles consolidates consecutive sibling bookmarks that share the same title into a single bookmark. Children from the duplicate entries are moved under the surviving bookmark, producing a cleaner, de-duplicated outline.

How to use

  1. Open a PDF that contains bookmarks.
  2. Go to Plug-Ins > Bookmarks > Manage & Organize > Merge Duplicate Bookmark Titles.
  3. Select the level scope: All levels, a single level, or a level range.
  4. Click OK to merge duplicates within the chosen levels.

How it works

BehaviourDetails
Consecutive matches only Only adjacent siblings with identical titles are merged. Non-adjacent bookmarks that happen to share a title are left untouched.
Child consolidation All children from the duplicate bookmarks are moved under the first (surviving) bookmark. The duplicates are then destroyed.
Open state preservation If any duplicate bookmark is open (expanded) and the surviving bookmark is closed, the surviving bookmark is set to open so that no content is hidden.
Recursive processing When the selected range spans multiple levels, duplicates are merged at each level from the top down. Children within merged groups are then scanned for duplicates at deeper levels.

Scope options

OptionDescription
All levels Scans every level of the bookmark tree for consecutive duplicates.
Single level Merges duplicates only at the specified level number.
Level range Merges duplicates within the specified start and end levels (inclusive).

Warning

Merging is applied immediately and cannot be undone. Consider saving a backup of your PDF before running this operation.

Note

After merging, a message reports how many duplicate bookmarks were removed. If no consecutive duplicates are found, you will see “No duplicate bookmark titles were found.”

See also