Importing Bookmarks Into Multiple PDF Documents

Import Bookmarks into Multiple PDF Documents via Action Wizard

Introduction: This tutorial shows how to import bookmarks into multiple PDF documents using the text files with the same names as the current PDF documents via the AutoBookmark™ plug-in for the Adobe® Acrobat®. Each PDF document will get its own set of bookmarks imported from a corresponding plain text file. The bookmark text files specify bookmark titles, and associated actions such as page numbers, file name, web URLs and etc.
Tutorial Overview: We are going to import bookmarks into 10 PDF documents from 10 text files. Bookmark descriptions for each PDF document are contained in the corresponding text file. Text files use the same names as PDF documents, but have *.bookmarks file extension. The output PDF documents would contain bookmarks from corresponding text files. The Action Wizard tool is used to process multiple PDF files at once without the need to open each document separately and use menus. The Action Wizard is part of Adobe Acrobat Pro and is used for batch processing.; The tutorial uses "Bookmarks From Text" batch command added to Action Wizard by AutoBookmark plug-in to import bookmarks into multiple PDF files. The same operation is available via Plug-ins > Bookmarks > Create From Text File..." menu.
Prerequisites: You need a copy of the Adobe® Acrobat® Professional along with the AutoBookmark™ plug-in installed on your computer in order to use this tutorial. You can download trial versions of both the Adobe® Acrobat® Pro and the AutoBookmark™ plug-in.

Step 1 - Prepare Bookmark Files

Use any plain text editor to prepare the bookmark files. Each file should contain definition of the bookmarks for the corresponding PDF document. For example, "Chapter1.bookmarks" will be used for the "Chapter1.pdf", "Chapter2.bookmarks" for the "Chapter2.pdf" and so on. The description of the bookmark file format is available in "Creating PDF Bookmarks From a Text File" tutorial. The bookmark file can contain text in any language by using UTF-8 encoding.

Here is the example of the simplest comma-delimited bookmark file that contains just the bookmark titles and corresponding page numbers:

Introduction,1
Definition of Terms,2
Table of Contents,5
Trademarks and Copyrights,11
Products and Services,12
Legal Notice,25

The bookmark file can be also prepared using a tab-delimited text format.

Step 2 - Create New Action in Action Wizard

Start the Adobe® Acrobat® application. Select the "Tools" from the main toolbar. Double-click on the "Action Wizard" tool icon to open tool controls.

Click on the "New Action" icon on the "Action Wizard" toolbar to create a new batch processing "action".

Step 3 - Add the "Bookmarks From Text" Command

Click on the "More Tools" category to see the list of the available commands.

Double click the "Bookmarks From Text" command or select it and press "+->" button to add it to the action steps list.

Step 4 - Specify the Command Settings

Now the "Bookmark From Text" command is added to the action steps.

Press the "Specify Settings" button below the "Bookmarks From Text" command to open the settings dialog.

Check the "Use a text file with the same name as a current PDF document" box. Click "OK" once done setting up the parameters.

Step 5 - Add the "Save" Command to the Action Steps

Uncheck the "Prompt User" option (otherwise this command would always prompt for the settings before processing each PDF file).

Click on the "Save & Export" category. Double click the "Save" command or select it and press "+->" button to add it to the action steps list.

Press the "Specify Settings" button below the "Save" command in the "Action steps to show" box.

Select "Add to original file names:" option and specify how to modify output file names. We are going to append "BM" text after the original file names. Click "OK" once done.

Step 6 - Save the Action

Now we have completed configuring the "action". Click "Save" to proceed.

Enter a desired action name and description into the "Save Action" dialog. Press the "Save" button to save the action.

Step 7 - Select Action For Execution

The new action will appear in the "ACTIONS LIST".

Click on the action to execute it.

Press the button to expand the list and select "Add Files...":

Select PDF files to process.

Step 8 - Execute the Action

Click "Start" to execute the action.

Examine output PDF files. There should be 10 new PDF files created in the output folder. Each PDF file now has bookmarks imported from a corresponding *.bookmarks text file. For example, Chapter1BM.pdf file now contains bookmarks imported from Chapter1.bookmarks file, Chapter2BM.pdf contains bookmarks from Chapter2.bookmarks and so on.

Here is an example of the output PDF file with bookmarks imported:

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