4 Methods on How To Create Table of Contents in PDF

A table of contents (TOC) typically includes a title, chapter headings or keywords, and corresponding starting page numbers. It serves as a quick overview of the PDF’s structure and main content, while also enhancing the professional appearance of the document.

If you’re unsure about how to create a table of contents in a PDF, this article will be extremely helpful to you.

How To Create Table of Contents in PDF With Microsoft Word

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The following will introduce you step by step to how you can create a table of contents in PDF through PDFgear.

Step 1. Convert PDF to Word in PDFgear

Enter the PDFgear Online PDF to Word Converter, upload the PDF document, and click “Convert”.

Wait for a few seconds of processing time, and click “Download” to save it after completion.

Step 2. Open the File in Microsoft Word

Open the file in Microsoft Word and customize your content using special formatting, such as Heading 1, Heading 2, Heading 3, and Heading 4… This formatting is essential for facilitating the automatic generation of the table of contents later on.

Step 3. Add Table of Contents in Microsoft Word

Once you have completed all the formatting settings, you can start the last step – creating a Table of Contents, Microsoft Word can help you generate a Table of Contents automatically:

Locate the References drop-down menu and select Table of Contents. You can automatically add the built-in table of contents format directly to the place where your cursor is positioned. The contents of the table of contents will be automatically populated with the text formatting you have set up.

Of course, you can also customize the Table of Contents by clicking Custom Table of Contents in the drop-down menu and then adding first-level headings, second-level headings, page numbers, etc. to the resulting table of contents text box.

Step 4. Update Table of Contents in Microsoft Word

After you have modified the title content or title formatting of the article, you do not need to manually change the content of the Table of Contents you have added.

Click Update Table of Contents at the top left of the table of contents text box and select the settings you want to update in the pop-up box: Update page numbers only or Update entire table.

Step 5. Save as PDF from Microsoft Word

After finishing all the operations, you can click File – Save As on the top left corner and select PDF in the Save File Type drop-down box. You can learn the specific conversion steps in How to Convert Word to a PDF article by converting Word files.

How To Create Table of Contents in PDF With Adobe Acrobat

Adobe Acrobat has become the primary choice for many people dealing with PDF file formats. Adobe Acrobat provides users with very easy-to-use logic while ensuring rich functionality, so you can quickly get started in a short time. Please read on to learn how to create a table of contents in PDF through Adobe Acrobat.

Step 1. First of all, open a PDF in Adobe Acrobat. You can add comments, and signatures, or merge multiple PDFs, etc. to your PDF in edit mode.

Step 2. To increase the readability of the whole PDF, you will generally add a blank page to edit the table of contents first. Place the mouse on the left thumbnail display interface and click the right button to select ” Insert Pages” – “Blank Page” to add a blank page.

Unfortunately, Adobe Acrobat can not automatically generate the contents of the table of contents for you, so you need to add all the contents and formatting of the table of contents yourself. Click “Tools” – “Content Editing” – “Add Text” to customize the content.

Step 3. Adobe Acrobat has a very convenient setting, you can add links to the text to jump to the corresponding page.

Click “Tools” – “Content Editing” – “Add or edit link” to set the jump page. If you are interested, you can learn how to add links in a PDF. Finally, click “Save” to select the storage address.

Since Adobe Acrobat requires payment, we would like to introduce you to a completely free solution to create a table of contents.

How To Create a Table of Contents from Bookmarks for Free

PDFgear Desktop offers a rich set of professional features that never fail to surprise its users from all over the world. When it comes to creating a table of contents, it introduces a new approach: creating a table of contents from bookmarks.

Step 1. Import the PDF to PDFgear Desktop

Because PDFgear’s online tool only allows file uploads under 20MB, opting for PDFgear Desktop would be a better choice. Don’t worry, PDFgear is compatible with Windows, Mac, and even iOS.

Download and install the PDFgear Desktop > Start it > Click Open File to choose a PDF to import.

Step 2. Create Bookmarks in PDF

Click Bookmark in the left toolbar > Scroll and locate the corresponding page > Click “+” on the left Bookmark Panel to add a bookmark > Name the bookmark.

Repeat these steps to locate the page and add bookmarks. Once you have completed this process, you can click on the bookmark to jump directly to the corresponding page.

Furthermore, you can rename, add a sub-bookmark, and delete the bookmark by selecting and right-clicking the bookmarks you added.

How To Create Table of Contents in PDF Online

Online tools can be more convenient when you are in an environment full of the Internet. Here we found a free way to help you add a table of contents in PDF online.

Step 1. Upload PDF to Google Drive

Go to Google Drive > Click New > File upload to choose the document.

Step 2. Open the File with Google Docs

Click More actions > Hover over the Open with option > Click Google Docs to open it with Google Docs

Step 3. Create a Table of Contents in PDF

Navigate to the Insert drop-down menu > Scroll down and hover over the Table of contents > Choose a Plaint Text to add.

However, this is only suitable for viewing with a PDF reader or viewer. If you print the file, the bookmarks will not be displayed.

FAQs

How Do I Create a Table of Contents in Adobe PDF?

Adobe is probably one of the tools you will often think of when working with PDFs. You can follow these steps to create a table of contents with its help: Table of contents settings – General – Create an internal or external table of contents – Insert table of contents into an existing PDF document (internal table of contents) – Specify page numbers.

How Do I Add a Table of Contents to a PDF Online?

Because of some limitations, you can add a table of contents to a PDF online directly. First of all, you can directly access the PDFgear Online PDF to Word Converter to convert PDF to Word, then select “Reference” in the toolbar, click the “Table of Contents” drop-down box, and select a table of contents you like to add.

How To Create a Clickable Table of Contents in PDF?

Click on the table of contents font and will be able to jump directly, is it possible to achieve? First of all, you need to put the cursor in Word to specify the location of the added table of contents, click “Reference” > “Table of Contents” > “Customize Table of Contents”, in the “Table of Contents” button, check “Show page numbers”, “Right-aligned page numbers” and “Use hyperlinks.

How Do I Create a Table of Contents in PDF Mac?

Microsoft Word and PDFgear are compatible with both Windows and Mac systems. So you can use the first way introduced above to create a Table of contents for your PDF.

Conclusion

When you don’t know how to add a table of contents, you may think it is a very difficult challenge. But through the introduction of this article, you will find that the creation of a directory for your PDF is a very easy and simple thing. Therefore, hurry up and try it.