Sorting PDF Bookmarks and Pages

AutoBookmark for Adobe® Acrobat®

Introduction

Organizing a large PDF can quickly become a challenge when bookmarks and pages fall out of order. Bookmarks are often added over time, sometimes manually and sometimes through automated processes, which can result in an inconsistent, confusing navigation panel. Likewise, the actual page order of a document may not always match the logical flow implied by its bookmarks. This mismatch can make the PDF harder to use, particularly when the document is intended for professional distribution, reference, or training purposes.

The AutoBookmark plug-in for Adobe Acrobat is designed to address these issues by providing advanced bookmark and page management tools that go far beyond Acrobat’s native capabilities. Two of its most powerful features are:

Sorting bookmarks alphabetically or by dates:

This ensures that the bookmark panel is intuitive to browse, making it easy for readers to locate topics or sections at a glance. This is especially useful for reference manuals, glossaries, and other content where alphabetical order improves usability.

Reordering pages to match bookmarks:

Once the bookmarks are properly sorted using any of the various available sorting methods (see below), AutoBookmark can automatically reorganize the actual pages in the PDF so that they follow the same sequence. This creates a seamless alignment between navigation and content, eliminating confusion and ensuring the document structure is consistent from both perspectives.

Bookmark Sorting Methods

AutoBookmark offers the following 4 bookmark sorting methods:

Tutorial

This tutorial shows you how to alphabetically organize bookmarks and automatically reorder their pages. You can complete both steps simultaneously with a single click.

Prerequisites

• Adobe® Acrobat® Standard, Pro or Classic
• MS Windows 11, 10
• AutoBookmark™ Standard or Professional plug-in for Adobe® Acrobat®

Sample Document Overview

In this tutorial, we’ll be working with a sample PDF that contains pages and bookmarks arranged in arbitrary order. Our objective is to first sort the bookmarks alphabetically and then reorder the document’s pages to match that sequence — effectively bringing both the bookmarks and the pages into a clear, consistent order.

Here is a screenshot of the document's Bookmarks panel showing bookmarks listed in arbitrary order:

Sorting Bookmarks Alphabetically

Select Menu > Plugins > Bookmarks > Sort > Sort Bookmarks... from the main Acrobat menu to open Sort Bookmarks settings dialog.

[⚡ How to locate Plugins menu in Adobe® Acrobat® ⚡]

Set Sorting method to Alphabetical Sorting option. There are other options available: sorting based on different date formats or sorting based on referenced page numbers. Choose any other processing option that is applicable to your project. Optionally, you can limit sorting to a specific bookmark level or exclude certain bookmarks from processing based on text content.

Press OK button to start processing.

The bookmarks are going to be sorted into selected order. If you need pages to be automatically re-arranged to follow the same order as bookmarks, then simply check Sort pages based on new bookmark order option.

Bookmarks panel will be updated with a new bookmark order.

Sorting Bookmarks by Date

Set Sorting method to As MM/DD/YYYY Dates option to sort bookmarks based on US Date format. Dates can appear anywhere in the bookmark titles. Note that the instructions are the same for any date format available. Just pick the correct one from the pulldown menu.

Here are two examples of sorting by dates using two different date formats (US and locale specific DD-MMM-YYYY). Note that software correctly handles different date separators mixed together - 12/30/2025 vs 04-11-2026. Note that in the second example, dates are appearing in the middle of the bookmark titles.

Sorting PDF Pages to Match Bookmarks

Page sorting can be done automatically at the same time as sorting bookmarks (if corresponding option is checked). If you need to sort pages at another time, then you can use a separate menu option. Select Menu > Plugins > Bookmarks > Sort > Sort Pages... from the main Acrobat menu to open Sort Pages dialog. This dialog does not have any options. Press OK button to start sorting pages based on the current order of the bookmarks. The page referenced by the first bookmark will become the first page of the document. The page linked to the second bookmark will follow, and so on through the entire list. The sorting process also correctly handles situations where a bookmark points to multiple pages, ensuring those page groups remain together. In essence, the bookmarks serve as a guide for organizing the document’s pages into clear, logical sections.

[⚡ How to locate Plugins menu in Adobe® Acrobat® ⚡]

The document's pages are going to be sorted into the bookmark order. Pages panel will be updated to display a new order of the pages. Essentially, both bookmarks and pages have been sorted into “alphabetical” order and the content of the document is now neatly organized.

Saving and Loading Settings

Use the Save Settings... button to save currently selected processing settings into a file with a *.bmsort extension. You can load it later by pressing the Load Settings... button and selecting that file. Use settings files to keep and quickly load different processing settings, or to share settings with co-workers. They can also be used to run this operation from a command-line interface.

Automatic Synching Pages with Bookmark Order

AutoBookmark provides an option to automatically sort pages in the PDF document into bookmark order when user moves bookmarks in the Bookmarks panel. Please see a separate tutorial on auto-sorting options.

Sorting Multiple Documents At Once

AutoBookmark provides an option to process multiple PDF documents at once via Guided Action tool (Action Wizard). This tool is available in Adobe Acrobat Pro and is a standard way to automate document processing in Acrobat. This operation can be executed from a command-line interface.

Read more step-by-step AutoBookmark tutorials.