Plugin: Bookmark A Page In Your PDF
Sep 15, 2006
With the long, yet wonderful, books in PDF format these days (Agile Web Development with Rails by Dave Thomas and David Heinemeier Hansson with Leon Breedt, Mike Clark, Thomas Fuchs, and Andreas Schwarz [570 pages]; Programming Ruby by Dave Thomas, with Chad Fowler and Andy Hunt [864 pages]) there needs to be a better way to digitally bookmark where you left off. For some reason Adobe Reader (Acrobat Reader) doesn’t have this capability built in. I found a plugin for Acrobat Reader to do multiple bookmarks per document from PDF Hacks. However, I really just want it to be simple like a physical book - you bookmark the page you’re on when you stop and go to that page when you pick back up. So here is my plugin to bookmark your page in Adobe Reader.
Download:
Change Log:
- 1.1 - Dec 20, 2007 - Update to work with Adobe Reader 8 due to security changes (app.trustedFunction)
- 1.0 - Sep 15, 2006 - Initial release
Installation:
Adobe Reader 8 - copy pdf_bookmark.js to:
- Mac: ~/Library/Acrobat User Data/8.0_x86/JavaScripts (or similar)
- Windows: C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Adobe\Acrobat\8.0\JavaScripts (or similar)
Adobe Reader 7 - copy pdf_bookmark.js to:
- Mac: ~/Library/Acrobat User Data/7.0/JavaScripts (or similar)
- Windows: C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Adobe\Acrobat\7.0\JavaScripts (or similar)
Note: you may have to create the JavaScripts folder
Usage:
Open your document in Adobe Reader. Then choose Tools -> Bookmark from the menu. “Bookmark This Page” adds the bookmark. “Go To Bookmark” sends you to the bookmark you created. It remembers which PDF document you bookmarked so it works on all of your PDFs simultaneously. (Tested with Acrobat Reader 7 and Adobe Reader 8 (thanks Michael) on Mac OS X and Windows)
suh-weet. thanks, john
What Sean said. And I fixed the link. Thanks!
that was very helpful, thank you very much guys.
Cheers John, was exactly what I was after.
I have to agree it seems a bit mad this feature isn’t built into acrobat reader. Guess some of life simplicities get overlooked in the transition to the digital era!
This is awesome. It is shocking that such basic functionality isn’t part of Adobe Reader. What is worse, Adobe uses the word “bookmark” for something related but different, making web searches for
“real” bookmarks a pain in the neck. (I finally found this page using “acrobat reader bookmark a page”; use the current name of “adobe reader” and you’re out of luck.)
I got this working under Adobe Reader 8 for OS X. The right directory for me was ~/Library/Acrobat User Data/8.0_x86/JavaScripts
Thanks!
Michael, thanks for the heads up and testing this in Adobe Reader 8! I made a couple of changes to the post to reflect your findings.
Thanks John for the plugin. Works great.
I had been pulling out my hair searching Adobe Reader 8 via F1(no help there!)for what I had thought would be a given. Keeping track of where I left off on my collection of various ebooks required an equally varied collection of Post-its. So much for paperless! Thanks so much for this plugin.
OMG! Thankyou for this excellent plugin.
I cannot believe that adobe didn’t have such a fundamental usability option by default.
I’m on Vista Ultimate using adobe reader 8.1.1 and I copied the javascript to C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 8.0\Reader\Javascripts and it works just fine, again, thankyou.
Very useful plugin, thanks.
Can this be used with the Windows Mobile Adobe Reader?
Hi Ray, I don’t think it’s possible. The plugin is written with Javascript. I found this in the “Acrobat Reader for Pocket PC User Guide“:
[...] I was looking for a bookmark feature in Acrobat and was dumb folded when I found out that it didn… These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
[...] has a made a great plugin that enables you to bookmark pages in PDF documents. Go get it at his website right [...]
[...] iespēju būs vēl nedaudz jāpagaida, tad grāmatzīmju izmantošana gan tagad būs iespējama, jo John Ford ir radījis lielisku Acrobat Reader spraudni, kas veic elementāru grāmatzīmes [...]
[...] Kur sužinoti daugiau? Įrankio tinklalapyje. [...]
[...] Beschrieben wurde ein solches Verfahren im Buch Bookmark PDF Pages in Reader (PDF) oder bei John Ford, der ein Javascript Plugin beschreibt. Dies wird nach dem Download einfach in das Adobe Reader [...]
Wow! Thank you so much for this. :) I’ve been looking for this feature for a long time, now reading on my PC won’t be such a pain.
[...] Bookmark A PDF Published January 30, 2008 asides , programming , technology Tags: acrobat, adobe, asides, bookmark, pdf, Reader I was looking for a bookmark feature in Acrobat and was dumb folded when I found out that it didn’… [...]
Its indeed a great feature and very helpful.
Adobe has made good software but should include this plugin.
Anyways, thanks a lot.
Excellent plugin!!! I’ve been looking for these feature in adobe reader from quite some time. It’s so simply I don’t understand why Adobe hasn’t implemented it. Thanks a lot!!! You just made my ebook reading a lot easier!!!
Great plugin ! I was looking for something like that for a long time, since Adobe forgot to add this basic functionality (but very useful)
I tested the script on Ubuntu and Fedora 8 and it’s working very well.
I was wondering if there is a way to move the bookmarks to another computer.. Where is the information about the bookmark saved ?
Hi lonut, glad to hear it works on Linux!
On OS X the saved bookmark data is stored in:
~/Library/Acrobat User Data/8.0_x86/JavaScripts/glob.js
On Windows it’s stored in:
C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Adobe\Acrobat\8.0\JavaScripts\glob.js
I imagine it’s similar on Linux and if you copy the glob.js to the other machine it should transfer just fine.
Let us know if it works!
Thanks.
[...] http://www.aldenta.com/2006/09/15/plugin-bookmark-a-page-in-your-pdf/ [...]
Thank you very much! My main gripe about acrobat reader has been this simple functionality, the electronic equivalent of the physical bookmark. Now if only I can get it to work on Adobe Reader LE on Tytn II as well…
Works great! Just a tip for user klutzes like me: I couldn’t find the location he was listing for Windows, until I remembered to change the View setting so I could see hidden files. Then there it was.
Works like a charm. Thanks.
I tried the PDF hacks bookmarker and got an internal error in one of my PDFs.
But your bookmarker works great.
I originally wanted to create my own PDF reader/bookmarker based on Adobe AIR but encountered problems along the way.
I think I’m sticking with your approach for now.
Thanks again.
It doesn’t work for me, what am I doing wrong? I copied the file to the location, opened PDF file, did the bookmark, closed file, came back in, tried to go to the bookmark but it wouldn’t go.
I installed this per instructions. I am sure I did everything as stated - no problems finding the appropriate folders, etc., but I could not get it to work. I tried restarting Reader and even rebooting. But it’s not showing up in the menu.
Any idea what’s wrong? I’ve got Reader 8.
It’s a great and simple.
i would like to get keyboard shortcuts.
It will be great!.
anyway thanks a lot.
What operating system are you on and what’s the exact version of Adobe Reader that you’re using if it’s not working for you?
I’m on XP, Adobe 8.1.2.
I installed that other plugin (pdf hacks) and that one worked fine.
i48998, do you know if the information is being stored in the glob.js file (C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Adobe\Acrobat\8.0\JavaScripts\glob.js)? It should say something about “global.pdf_bookmark=”. I tested it on Windows XP with Adobe Reader 8.1.2 and its working fine for me. Any error messages or other strange things happening?
Thanks.
I just wanted to say thank you for this great Acrobat Reader plugin you have made. I have to agree that the omission of this very basic usability feature in Reader is typical of a big company trying to get people to upgrade to the writer version of Acrobat. Probably some marketing decision that was agreed upon with open arms. Who knows? Anyways, I personally think a bookmark feature is and will be an imperative staple to electronic books and PDF reading. What you have made perfectly solves the problem Adobe should have solved originally.
Well, keep up the great work John!
I’ve been using this plugin for a while (thanks!), but had some issues after upgrading Ubuntu — the upgraded wiped out Acrobat Reader. I reinstalled it, but forgot to reinstall the plugin. It turns out the Linux 8.1.2 version of Acrobat Reader, at least, does indeed have this feature built in. The setting is buried, however. Go to Document - Accessibility Setup Assistant, click the “Next” button until you get to the last screen of the assistant, and there it is, “Reopen documents to the last viewed page”.
Whoooo hoooo…..at last someone actually made something usefull….no really well done….simple perfect works beautiful
Thanks!! Great! Thanks for taking the time to post this for everyone’s benefit.