Add Table of Contents to PDF
Create a clickable table of contents page from your PDF's bookmarks or your own list, with dot leaders and page numbers.
Select a PDF fileor drop it anywhere on this page, or paste
Opens in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
Add Table of Contents to PDF, free and private
Add a table of contents to a PDF in a few clicks. The tool builds a contents page from the PDF's bookmarks or from a list you type, with dot leaders, page numbers and a clickable link on every entry. It inserts the page at the front of the document or after any page you choose, such as the cover.
Page numbers are worked out after the contents pages are added, so they match what a reader sees in the page box of their PDF viewer. Long lists flow onto as many pages as they need. The PDF is changed in your browser and is never uploaded.
How to add a table of contents to a PDF
- 1
Add your PDF
Press Select a PDF file or drop it onto the page. If the PDF has bookmarks, the entry list fills with the top two levels of them, and a preview of the contents page appears beside it.
- 2
Create the table of contents entries
Edit the entries in the list: rename them, set their page, drag to reorder and press Tab to nest. Or switch to Text and type one entry per line with the page number at the end, like Introduction 3, indenting sub-entries with two spaces. The Top level, 2 levels and 3 levels buttons refill the list from the bookmarks.
- 3
Choose the heading, size and position
Change the heading if Contents does not suit, pick a text size from 10 to 14 pt, turn dot leaders on or off and choose At the front or After a page. The preview updates as you go. Under Page numbers shown, pick Position in the new PDF or Numbers as typed.
- 4
Add the table of contents and download
Press Add table of contents and download the PDF. The file name ends in -with-contents. Click any entry in the new page to test its link.
Why use PDFToolz for this
Clickable entries
Every entry is a link to its page, across the whole row from the title to the page number. Upright pages open at their top edge. Pages turned sideways open fitted to the window.
Page numbers that count the new pages
With Position in the new PDF, a chapter on page 5 shows as page 6 when one contents page goes in front of it. Entries before the inserted pages keep their number. Links always point at the right page, whichever numbers you show.
Dot leaders and a clear hierarchy
Dots run from each title to its page number and line up from row to row, or turn them off for a plainer page. When the list has sub-entries, top-level entries are bold and each sub-level is indented by a quarter inch. Titles too long for one line wrap, and the number sits on the last line.
Built from bookmarks or typed by hand
Word can create bookmarks from your headings when it saves a PDF, and those files fill the list for you. A scanned or merged PDF without bookmarks works too. Type the entries yourself.
How to create a table of contents in a PDF
In the Text view, each line is one entry. The last number on the line is the page it points to, counted in the PDF as you uploaded it, so page 1 is the first page of the file. Dots, a dash, a comma or a bar between the title and the number are fine, which means a list copied from a Word document usually works as it is.
Indent a line with two spaces or a tab to make it a sub-entry of the line above. You can nest up to 4 levels. A short book outline could be typed as these five lines, with the two section lines indented:
- Preface 2
- Chapter 1 Getting started 4
- Installing the software 5
- First steps 9
- Chapter 2 Reference 14
Which page numbers to show
Position in the new PDF counts every page of the finished file, contents pages included. The numbers then match the page box in Acrobat, Preview, Chrome and Edge. If you want the same numbers printed on the pages, run Add Page Numbers on the finished file.
Numbers as typed shows the numbers from your list unchanged. Use it when the pages already have printed numbers that match your list and you don't want the inserted pages to shift them. The links still open the right pages either way.
Where the contents page goes and how it looks
At the front puts the contents before page 1. After a page puts it after the page number you enter, so After page 1 keeps a cover first. The contents pages take the size of the page they follow, as that page is shown, so they match A4, Letter or any other size in the file. Margins are a tenth of the shorter page side.
The text is set in Helvetica. Titles with letters outside Western European languages, such as Polish, Czech, Greek or Cyrillic, use Liberation Sans instead. Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic and Hebrew titles are not supported.
Bookmarks and other changes to the file
With Add a bookmark for the contents page turned on, a Contents bookmark is added in page order alongside the bookmarks already in the file, which keep their targets and styles. Turn the option off to leave the bookmarks untouched.
The rest of the document is not changed. If the PDF uses page labels such as i, ii and iii in the viewer's page box, the labels are not updated for the new pages. Files that block printing or copying work, and the saved copy no longer carries those restrictions. A PDF that asks for a password to open must go through Unlock PDF first.
Frequently asked questions
Add the PDF here. Its bookmarks fill the entry list, or you add the entries yourself with their page numbers. Choose where the contents go and press Add table of contents. It is free, with no account, watermark or upload.
Every entry this tool writes is a link. Clicking anywhere on the row, from the title to the page number, jumps to the page. The links work in Acrobat Reader, Preview, Chrome, Edge and Firefox.
Yes. When the PDF has bookmarks, the entry list fills with the top two levels when you add the file. Press Top level, 2 levels or 3 levels to rebuild the list from the bookmarks at that depth.
Yes. The tool runs in the browser on Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android, with no Acrobat or other software to install. The contents page and its links are standard PDF content, so any PDF reader shows them.
With Position in the new PDF, yes. Every entry after the inserted pages shows its new position, so the numbers match the PDF viewer. Pick Numbers as typed to keep your own numbers.
Add the entries yourself in the list, or switch to Text and type one per line, like Chapter 1 Introduction 3. To add bookmarks as well, use Edit PDF Bookmarks, whose Find headings button can create them from the larger text on the pages.
There is no fixed limit. Entries flow onto as many contents pages as they need, and every page number accounts for all of the inserted pages.
