a11yTips

Create bookmarks from the content structure in PDF documents

no. 128

Make sure PDF documents can be navigated using bookmarks

Not everyone will find it easy or even intuitive to navigate through a document using the conventional visual indicators defined by design or layout, such as document sections, page headings or even links. For some users, relying on a table of contents is a much more logical way of going through a document. Whenever a document is long enough to justify the use of a table of contents, or whenever a document has enough section that the equivalent of a table of contents becomes relevant, authors should integrate bookmarks to their PDF documents.

To do so, simply go to the Bookmarks navigation panel in Adobe Acrobat Pro and generate bookmarks from the existing structure of the PDF document. Start by selecting which structure elements will be used to create the bookmarks based on what makes most sense for the document, and give that bookmark list a name. Bookmarks will then automatically be generated from the document structure and will provide users with an alternative way to navigate throughout the document. While bookmarks may not be relevant when the document only has a page or two, larger documents will become much easier to navigate if such bookmarks are provided and reliably convey the structure of the information.

User Story

As a user with a cognitive disability, I want to rely on a simple table of content in order to navigate throughout the content, so that I can easily find what I’m looking for and jump straight to it in the document.

Simple Code Example

Not Applicable

Testing Methodology

Using Adobe Acrobat Pro, go to the Bookmarks navigation panel and validate that the document offers various bookmarks correctly leading to the different sections or pages of the document.

Specification Details