Add or edit a PDF's bookmarks
Give a PDF a proper outline — the clickable table of contents that appears in the sidebar of every PDF viewer. Add entries, point them at pages, and nest them into sections. Existing bookmarks load into the editor so you can fix or extend them rather than starting over.
Add Bookmarks to PDF
nested outline · written to the catalog
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How to convert Add Bookmarks to PDF
- Add your PDF. Drop the file in. Any bookmarks it already has are read and listed for editing.
- Add entries. Click "Add bookmark", type a title, and set the page it should jump to.
- Nest them. Use the arrows to indent an entry under the one above it, building sections and subsections.
- Save and download. The outline is written into the document itself, so it travels with the file.
Bookmarks are part of the file, not a viewer setting
A PDF outline is stored in the document's own catalog, which means it goes wherever the file goes. Email it, print it to another machine, open it in a different application — the sidebar entries are still there. This is quite different from the annotations or reading positions some viewers keep locally against a file they happen to have open.
For anything long enough that a reader will need to jump around — a manual, a report, a contract, a thesis — it is the single cheapest improvement you can make to how usable the document is.
Why a flat list with indent arrows
A drag-and-drop tree is the obvious interface for editing a hierarchy, and it is the wrong one for this job. Outlines get built by reading down a document and typing what you see, in order. "Indent this under the last one" is a single click; dragging a node onto a target you cannot quite see is a fiddly gesture that is easy to get wrong and annoying to undo.
So entries are a list with a depth, and the nesting is rebuilt from those depths when you save. An entry can never be more than one level deeper than the one above it, which makes an outline with a hole in it impossible to create by accident.
Merging documents keeps bookmarks too
The same outline machinery runs in the merge and page-organising tools here, where destinations are remapped as pages move. Combining three reports keeps all three sets of bookmarks pointing at the right pages, rather than silently dropping them — which is the usual behaviour and a common reason people end up rebuilding an outline by hand.
Frequently asked questions
Is my PDF uploaded to add bookmarks?
No. The outline is read and written in your browser, and the file never leaves your device.
Will the bookmarks work in every PDF reader?
Yes. They are written into the document catalog using the standard outline structure, so any viewer with a bookmarks or contents pane will show them — Acrobat, Preview, Chrome, Edge and the rest.
Does adding bookmarks change the pages?
No. Nothing is re-rendered. The pages are untouched and only the outline is added.
Can I remove all the bookmarks instead?
Yes. Delete every row and save — the outline is removed from the document entirely.
Do bookmarks show up when the PDF is printed?
No. They are a navigation aid inside a viewer and have no effect on the printed page.
Can bookmarks jump to a position on a page rather than the top?
This tool targets pages. That is what almost every outline needs, and it keeps the destinations robust if pages are later moved or merged.
How deep can the nesting go?
As deep as you like, though two or three levels is what readers actually use. Each entry can be one level deeper than the entry above it.