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In compiling files or documents into a Navigable PDF, you should be aware of three navigation possibilities:Bookmarks.
Bookmarks
PDFs can contain a table of contents or organization that exists separate of any page within the document. In Acrobat or Acrobat reader, this typically appears on the lefthand side when the Bookmarks tool is made visible. These bookmarks are often also visible in other PDF readers.
By default, Adobe creates a bookmarks list based on information that came in with the files. The separate file names appear as top-level or leftmost entries. With .docx files, headings will appear in their proper order and levels, but pages are not recognized. With .pptx files, slides are listed. The links to file names, headings, and slides in the Bookmarks list are rearrangeable, but this does not change their order, or any other content, within the files. It can save time to just rely on this bookmark list, and dispense with the Table of Contents above, but this list may not be available if your readers elect to print out your PDF.
In most cases Acrobat will auto-generate a set of bookmarks when you combine the files. File names will be the major headings, but there may be additional sub-headings, for example generated from the headings within the files, or individual slides in a slidedeck.
If you right-click on a bookmark, you get a variety of different options, including to delete or change it's destination (where it goes when a reader clicks it.) Probably most useful is "rename," since you may want more descriptive headings than your file names.
You can also manually add bookmarks:
Within your text, Put your cursor on the line to which you want the bookmark to go. Then click the "New Bookmark" button at the top of the Bookmarks list. |
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Acrobat will create the Bookmark with the name "Untitled." Rename it accordingly. You can then drag it up or down the list, to put it where it properly belongs, in case it didn't install exactly where it should be. |
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Thumbnails
PDFs can contain a set of small "thumbnail" images of each page that together form a quick-navigation tool. In Acrobat or Acrobat reader, this typically appears on the lefthand side when the Page Thumbnails tool is made visible. This tool is probably less valuable for the reader, since the author can better recognize pages represented by the thumbnails, and only pages, rather than headings, are navigation choices here.
Page Numbers
You can add page numbers to your combined PDF file, and although they will not neatly replace page numbers visible in the original documents added to the PDF file, they still can be helpful for readers to navigate the whole. Click the Edit Icon (or click Tools → Edit). In the toolset at the top, click "Header & Footer," and from the dropdown menu, click "Add." You can add all sorts of information on the header, using the various text boxes for "Left Header Text, Center Header Text," and so on. Place your cursor in "Right Header Text," and click the "Insert Page Number" button to simply add a page number set to the PDF file.
There's a link to the right, where you can edit "Page Number and Date Format..." if you like.
If you plan to add front matter to your document that is not paginated, you may wish to wait until that's done before creating page numbers.
Editing the Bookmarks List
In most cases Acrobat will auto-generate a set of bookmarks when you combine the files. File names will be the major headings, but there may be additional sub-headings, for example generated from the headings within the files, or individual slides in a slidedeck.
If you right-click on a bookmark, you get a variety of different options, including to delete or change it's destination (where it goes when a reader clicks it.) Probably most useful is "rename," since you may want more descriptive headings than your file names.
You can also manually add bookmarks:
Table of Contents
You may wish to go a step further, and create a Table of Contents as featured on a page or pages, presumably at the beginning of your PDF file. Although not a toolset built into Acrobat, you can create a dedicated Table of Contents that includes just page numbers, or are actively linked to your content. Unlike Bookmarks, the Table of Contents is a page within your portfolio, wherein the items in the Table list are hyperlinked to pages within the PDF. When your readers click on items in the table of contents, they are taken to the corresponding page. This presents a professional-looking product, and offers the option to create a document that is easily navigated if printed out, too.
Before you create a Table of Contents, however, you'll want to be certain that every file you wish to include is within the PDF file, and that you've arranged them the way you want them. Adding or rearranging the order of the files after you've built a Table of Contents is complicated and time-consuming.
Editing the Bookmarks List
In most cases Acrobat will auto-generate a set of bookmarks when you combine the files. File names will be the major headings, but there may be additional sub-headings, for example generated from the headings within the files, or individual slides in a slidedeck.
If you right-click on a bookmark, you get a variety of different options, including to delete or change it's destination (where it goes when a reader clicks it.) Probably most useful is "rename," since you may want more descriptive headings than your file names.
You can also manually add bookmarks:
Within your text, Put your cursor on the line to which you want the bookmark to go.
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.
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Acrobat will create the Bookmark with the name "Untitled." Rename it accordingly.
You can then drag it up or down the list, to put it where it properly belongs, in case it didn't install exactly where it should be.
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After you've arranged your PDF file the way you want it, if you'd like to add a Table of Contents, there's several possible ways to do this. Two are:
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Table of Contents: Method One