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A
Antonella11
New Participant
January 4, 2010
Question

Expand/Collapse all the Bookmarks in a PDF file

  • January 4, 2010
  • 6 replies
  • 55435 views

Hi,

This is my first message on the board 🙂

I work with very large PDF files (i.e 2000 pages, 700 bookmarks on 5 or 6 levels!) and I'm looking for a script (Acrobat 9 Pro) allowing to expand/collapse all the bookmarks in a PDF file.

Thanks in advance for your valuable help,

Cheers

Antonella

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    6 replies

    C
    CPANatalie
    New Participant
    August 2, 2017

    No script needed, click on the top level bookmark and press the / key to collapse all bookmarks.  You can then use the right arrow key to expand just the next level of bookmarks.  You can then use the left arrow key to collapse that level of bookmarks.

    To expand all bookmarks below any given bookmark, press the * key.  The / key also works to collapse all bookmarks below any given bookmark.

      J
      JoeKincognito
      New Participant
      August 10, 2016

      With the top level root bookmark highlighted you can use:

      *   to expand all bookmarks (multiple layers deep)

      /   to collapse all bookmarks

        AdUser0924
        AdUser0924
        Participating Frequently
        September 3, 2022

        Thanks @JoeKincognito  for the hint.

        Additionally, + works opening top-level "Parts" of books only, whereas * opens all sections. (Both are same key on my GER-keyboard)

          jasons33352889
          jasons33352889
          New Participant
          February 16, 2016

          I have Adobe 9, maybe I'm misunderstanding the question, but on the bookmark pane, can't you click the "gears" and click on "expand/collapse top level book marks"?

          try67
          Community Expert
          try67Community Expert
          Community Expert
          February 16, 2016

          But they want to expand/collapse all bookmarks, not just the top-level ones...

          R
          rlauriston
          Inspiring
          November 20, 2015

          Hey, Adobe, it would be nice if you would change the "Collapse all" shortcut or provide a menu command, so I would not have to copy the PDF from my MacBook to my PC laptop and attach a keyboard with a numeric keypad in order to do this one small task.

            G
            gkaiseril
            Inspiring
            November 21, 2015

            Hey rlauriston. This is a User 2 User forum not Acrobat or Adobe Help Desk. The posters here are individuals providing free assistance. The posted script was developed by a user and not an Adobe employee.   Adobe provides a usable product that can have custom features added by users as needed either by using the simple language JavaScript or creating add-ins using a full computer language like C++.

            If you want to add a suggestion or improvement idea you need to do this through the Adobe site under the contact page.

            R
            rlauriston
            Inspiring
            November 21, 2015

            I know it's a user-to-user forum, but I'm pretty sure Adobe employees monitor it.

            That's great that someone wrote a script, but I want Adobe to fix the UI.

              A
              Adobe Employee
              ashish_gupta_
              Adobe Employee
              October 16, 2013

              Old thread, but adding my reply here. Apparently this thread is pretty high up in Google searches for PDF bookmarks!

              For future visitors, I am leaving a useful tip I blogged at http://twtools.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/expand-or-collapse-pdf-bookmarks-and-save-that-state/.

              W
              WA3CAS
              Participating Frequently
              July 22, 2010

              Antonella,

              Although I don't know of any single command that collapses all bookmarks, I did find a way to collapse all bookmarks under a single top-level bookmark. Highlight the top-level bookmark and press the "/" key. This will collapse all bookmarks multiple layers deep. Repeat for each top-level bookmark. I'm assuming you don't have 700 top-level bookmarks. If you do, this procedure may not help.

              JBrush

              T
              tsurikov
              Participating Frequently
              July 28, 2012

              The following works to collapse all bookmarks at all levels in Acrobat 9 Pro:

              • Click on any bookmark in the navigation pane.
              • Press Shift + (the forward-slash key on the numeric keypad).

              The numeric-keypad part is significant; using the regular forward-slash key doesn't work.

                R
                rlauriston
                Inspiring
                September 23, 2015

                Thanks for the tip. Can't figure out how to get it to work on my Mac (I'll borrow a numeric keypad and see if that helps) or with the Fn numeric keys on my Windows laptop, but it works fine with Windows using an external keyboard.

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