How to Create a Clickable Table of Contents in a PDF

▶ 1. What it is and when it helps

A table of contents is the list of the main chapters or topics of a document. On paper it tells you the page number; in a PDF it can do much more, because every entry becomes a link you click to jump straight to its destination.

It is worth adding to manuals, reports, catalogues, theses and long contracts: anything beyond a dozen pages that someone will consult repeatedly, looking for a different point each time.

With 123 PDF Editor PRO the whole job is done in the browser, without installing desktop software and without uploading the document to any service — which matters when the file is an unpublished thesis or a confidential contract.

▦ 2. Creating the contents page

If the document has no free opening page, you can add one in seconds and move it to the front.

Organising PDF pages with draggable thumbnails — Thumbnails can be dragged: the new blank page goes to the first position.

Open the document with Choose a PDF (or Open PDF).
Go into Organize pages.
Insert a Blank page, or use Add Template Page if you prefer a ready-made layout.
Drag the thumbnail of the new page into first position, right after any cover.
Click Apply page changes to bring the new structure back into the editor.

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Build the table of contents as the last step, when the page order is final. If you move or add pages after creating the links, the destinations do not follow and have to be corrected by hand.

✍️ 3. Writing the entries

On the blank page you write as you would on a white sheet: one line per chapter, with the page number alongside if you find it useful.

Inserting a text box into a PDF page — With Add text you draw the box and type the list of entries.

From the Insert bar choose Add text.
Draw a box on the page and type the entries, one per line.
Give the page a heading — “Contents” or “Table of contents” — using the Text type menu with Title.
Adjust font, size and colour from the side panel to distinguish headings from sub-entries.

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It is worth creating a separate text box for each entry rather than one block containing every line. The link applies to the selected text: with separate boxes it is far easier to give each entry its own destination page.

⧈ 4. Linking the entries to their pages

This is where the table of contents becomes interactive: each entry is tied to the page where that chapter begins.

Selecting text in a PDF with the editing panel open — Once the text is selected, the link controls appear in the side panel.

Select the text of the first entry in the table of contents.
In the side panel find Link type and choose Internal Link.
Enter the destination page, that is the number of the page where the chapter starts.
Click Add / update link: a message confirms that the internal link has been applied.
Repeat for every entry in the table of contents.
When you are done click Download PDF and check the links by opening the file with your usual reader.

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This operation too happens entirely on your device: the document is not sent to any server for processing.

🌐 5. Adding external links

The same tool creates links to the web: useful for pointing to a source, a website or an online form.

Select the text you want to make clickable.
In Link type choose External Link.
Enter the full address, including https://.
Confirm with Add / update link.

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A useful typographic touch: give linked text a colour different from the rest, so it is obvious at a glance that it is clickable. See the guide on how to change text colour.

⌫ 6. Correcting or removing links

If a chapter moves or you got the page wrong, the link can be updated without redoing the entry.

Select the entry that already carries a link, change the destination page, then click Add / update link again.
To delete a single link use Remove link.
To start over across the whole document there is Remove all links — use it carefully, because it also deletes links that have nothing to do with the table of contents.

◩ 7. Numbering the pages

A table of contents works better when the pages are numbered: the reader can still find the point when the document is printed, where links are of no use.

Open Page Numbers and choose a format (1 · Page 1 · Page 1 of 10 · - 1 -).
Set the starting number, the position and the margin.
If the contents page should not be numbered, start the numbering from the following page.
With Header and Footer you can also add the document title to every page.

? 8. Frequently asked questions

The questions that come up most often on this topic.

Do the links work in every PDF reader?

Internal links are a standard feature of the PDF format and are recognised by the most widely used readers, browser viewers included. In print they are obviously not clickable: that is why it is worth showing the page number next to each entry as well.

If I add pages later, do the links update by themselves?

No: the destination is a fixed page number. If you insert or move pages after creating the table of contents, check the links and update them where needed. That is why it is best to do the contents last.

Can I create a table of contents in a scanned document?

Yes. You add the contents page as a new page anyway and write on it with Add text. If you also want the scanned text to become selectable, run Local OCR first, which works offline in 10 languages.

Does compression break the links?

No, as long as you keep the option Preserve selectable text, links and form fields switched on when compressing. You will find the detail in the guide on how to compress a PDF.

How to create a clickable table of contents in a PDF