Home / Feature Request: bookmark import/export, maybe edit

For instance, jpdfbookmarks (a Java app) does a good job importing a bookmark file in tab-indented format.

Biochemistry Demystified /1	
        Title Page /4
        Copyright/ISBN /5
        Table of Contents /8
         Preface /14
Chapter 1: The Chemistry of Biomolecules 1  /16
        Review of Basic Chemical Concepts 1  /16
        Forces That Hold Atoms and Molecules Together 2  /17
                Forces That Drive Reactions 8  /23
                3rd Indent /25
        The Unique Measurements of Hydrogen Ion ConcentrationΓÇöpH 18 /33

The pdf page number is at the end, following the forward slash /

Love the lightweight and speed of app, but I hesitate to request features because of feature-bloat. Thanks!

edit: in edit mode, this post shows the tab indents in the above TOC sample, but in normal mode it doesn’t. [moderator note I have Preformatted to show tabs]

[Later Edit] This feature has been introduced in Pre-release skip this old answer and read the [Later Part] below

Note this request may not be as simple as it first appears since the contents are rightly shown above as /8 which is the way many viewers will count since page 1 is the cover and chapter 1 starts after “xv” pages including blanks so is listed as Page 1 in the TOC but listed as page 16 above.

The need to adjust page numbers to sync with the TOC has been requested in another thread. Feature request: sum of number for goto page
However I presume this request is to allow changes to the bookmarks such as

The Unique Measurements of Hydrogen Ion
      Concentration—pH                                 18  

Such modifications are likely to break many PDF standards such as archiving and accessibility (PDF/A-#a) and are best left to those editors that are approved for such reflow, reconstruction and verification otherwise one could get into the same trap as many PDF generators of not passing the data in the approved manner unless having a large team of programmers building PS distillers and preflight utilities.

[Later Part]
With Version 3.2 it is possible to load SumatraPDF.bkm and .vbkm files
They are created by the Pre-Release versions and allow both for user additions and corrections to Bookmark entries. Also currently, with some limitations, they can be used to create a virtual or physical PDF.
Full release 3.2 can use (but not edit) those files.

I know Sumatra is intended as a reader (and it does that job very well thanks), so bookmark import/export might be beyond it’s purview (bookmark editing very much so).

I’m unclear - exporting or importing tab-indented bookmarks wouldn’t break any standards, would it? My tab-indented bookmark example was left-justified by this editor when I saved it, so I’ll upload one here:

http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=93472511489154469795

To see how import/export tab-indented bookmarks works, check out jpdfbookmarks

If you want.

Thanks for the prompt reply! Love your reader app - I’ve tried a bunch and Sumatra offers the best combo of speed and features.

1. A properly formatted PDF contains internal TOC and reader should use it for bookmarks rather than create its own non-standard solution. Using tab indents is definitely NOT foolproof, so it’s NOT a portable solution, as tabs may be automatically replaced with spaces out of user knowledge. For such tasks XML format is preferred as it natively supports Unicode and doesn’t base on formatting with white spaces or EOLs.
2. Such bookmarks are usable only with fixed-formatted PDF/DJVU files. Ebook readers by default must deal with text reflow and implement bookmarks in another way.