editing pdf manual for work and am stuck on the table of contents

[ccs_05]

Hi all,

I have been tasked with updating a manual for work, but honestly have no clue what I'm doing.  I've got it in edit pdf format so I can update the text, but I know the TOC is going to have to be updated as I make changes.  Everything I've looked up online so far keeps referencing something along the lines of choosing an update TOC option, but for the life of me I'm not seeing anything like that.  Below is a screenshot of what I'm seeing.  I've tried right-clicking on the TOC as well, but nothing helpful comes up.  

Any insight (and patience) is much appreciated!

-CCS

[Bernd Alheit]

What does you see online?

[Test Screen Name]

Stop right there. We do NOT edit PDF manuals. This would be beyond painful, and take weeks or months longer than needed to get a poor quality result. What you need to do is get the ORIGINAL file, which might have been a Word Document, or InDesign document or something else. Now, make your edits to that original. Finally, make a new PDF. If correctly set up a TOC will be generated.

[ccs_05]

ahhhhh, thank you!!  This makes total sense, because it is painful already.  Will work on tracking the original down!

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com · Accepted solution]

Seconding what "Test_Screen_Name" said.

Edits are always made in the source document (such as MS Word, GoogleDocs, Adobe InDesign).

1. After editing, update the TOC in THAT program, not in Acrobat.
2. Then re-export a new PDF.

The PDF file format is static: think of it as a picture of the original document in the source program (ie, Word). PDFs were never inteded to be changed, regardless of what advertising hype you'll hear from software manufacturers.

So get the original source file and proceed from there. In a pinch when you can't locate the original source file, you can Export To Word from Acrobat's File menu.

[ccs_05]

Thank you so much!!  Will try exporting to word if I can't locate the original.  Appreciate the help!!

[ccs_05]

Next question...I've converted it to Word, but when I go to Update Table (by right clicking on the TOC) I get the below pop up that a TOC doesn't exist.  How is that possible?

[Bernd Alheit]

You must create the TOC in Word:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/insert-a-table-of-contents-882e8564-0edb-435e-84b5-1d8552... 

[ccs_05]

Thank you for the response and link.  I don't understand though...the TOC has already been created and works (see top left of the above picture...you can see the blue table of contents formatted).  Or am I understanding that wrong?  If I insert another TOC, won't there now be two?

[Bernd Alheit]

Delete what looks like a TOC. And create a new TOC.

When you convert a PDF file to Word it will not create a Word TOC.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

That's correct, delete the existing TOC and rebuild it. Most likely the original encoding of the TOC in the original Word document became corrupted.