InDesign Shorts: Tip #13 – Creating Bookmarked PDFs

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You know how it’s super helpful to open an RFP and be able to skip to the bookmark that lists the mandatory requirements or the scope? Bookmarked PDFs are wonderful. If I receive an RFP that isn’t bookmarked, one of the first things I do while reviewing it is to highlight and bookmark critical areas. This makes it super easy for me to quickly reference key information as I’m working on the proposal (without having to flip or click through tons of pages to find what I’m looking for.)

Do you know who else benefits from bookmarked PDFs? Proposal review committees! Yes, when they ask for that digital copy, you could just pop your file onto a thumb drive and call it a day. Or, you could take just a minute and bookmark the PDF for them.

You can do this in the PDF, of course, but then you have to do it every time you export. Instead, make your bookmarks right in InDesign, and when you export to PDF they’ll automatically populate the bookmarks bar!

Tips and hints:

• This only works if you export to an interactive PDF.
• Link bookmarks to text anchors, rather than page numbers. That way if your text shifts around, the bookmark will automatically look for the text anchor, rather than a page that that section is no longer on.
• I only bookmark major headings or critical subheadings. Too many bookmarks can be overwhelming.