How to Convert Word Styles to PDF Bookmarks

You can convert Word styles to PDF bookmarks automatically.

Acrobat PDF "Bookmarks" act as table of contents entries and navigation links, making finding content within the PDF easier. You can create Bookmarks in PDFs manually--by selecting content and then defining the Bookmark--but this process, depending on the size and length of your PDF, is tedious and time-consuming. Besides, you'll need to purchase Acrobat Pro to make these kinds of changes to PDF files. It's much easier to use Microsoft Word's built-in "Heading" styles to automatically create Bookmarks when you export the document to PDF.

Things You'll Need

• Microsoft Word 2007 or later

Instructions

Converting Word Heading Styles to PDF Bookmarks

1. Open Microsoft Word.

2. Click the "Office Button" (Microsoft Office icon in the upper-left corner of the document window), and choose "Open." This displays the Open dialog box. Navigate to the Word document you want to convert to PDF, select it and then click the "Open" button.

3. Find the first heading in the document you want to make a Bookmark. Click your mouse cursor on the heading to insert the text-editing cursor.

4. Click the "Heading 1" button in the "Styles" section of the "Home" toolbar.

   By default, Word has three heading style levels, named "Heading 1,", "Heading 2," and so on. When Word converts the document to PDF it creates Bookmarks in hierarchical levels. Heading 1 converts to the top level in the hierarchy; Heading 2 converts to the second level; Heading 3 becomes the next level--you get the idea. The Bookmarks are displayed in the PDF in a top-down, indented format, with Heading 2 indented beneath Heading 1, Heading 3 indented beneath Heading 2, etc.

5. Continue going through the document applying heading styles where you want your Bookmarks.

   As you apply styles, Word re-formats the text to the current style settings. If you don't like the formatting, you can change it for each heading style like this: Click the "Style" button (located beneath "Change Styles" in the "Styles" section of the "Home" toolbar, a small down-arrow). This opens the Styles dialog box. Hover the mouse cursor over the style you want to change, and then click the drop-down arrow to the right of the style name. Choose "Modify" from the fly-out menu. This opens the Modify Style dialog box. You can make font and paragraph format changes in this dialog box.

6. Click the "Office Button" (Microsoft Office icon in the upper-left corner of the document window). Hover the mouse over "Save As" on the left side of the menu. The "Save As" options are displayed in the right pane of the Office Button menu. Select "Adobe PDF." Word displays the Acrobat PDFMaker dialog box, telling you to save the file before converting it to PDF. Click "Yes" to display the Save Adobe PDF File As dialog box.

7. Name and save the file. When the conversion completes, the PDF opens in Acrobat Reader (or Acrobat Pro, if you have it). Your heading styles display as Bookmarks on the left side of the application window.

Tips & Warnings

• You can create up to nine heading styles in Word that will all automatically convert to Bookmarks, as long as you name them "Heading 1," "Heading 2," and so on. However, too many Bookmark levels in PDFs are unattractive and hard to use. Most designers consider more than three or four heading levels poor design.

• You can tell Word to convert styles other than headings to Bookmarks like this: Click "Acrobat" on the menu bar, and then select "Preferences" from the "Create Adobe PDF" toolbar. This opens the Adobe PDFMaker dialog box. Click the "Bookmarks" tab, and then place check marks in the check boxes beside the styles you want to convert to Bookmarks.

References

• PDFzone: Converting Word Bookmarks to PDF
• Dummies.com: Converting Office Documents into PDF Files
• Queensland University of Technology: Convert Word Headings and Styles into Bookmarks in Adobe PDF files