Feature request: Create bookmarks in the integrated PDF viewer

jonschulz
First of all, congratulations on the release of version 6.0! The intergrated PDF viewer is quite the improvement, and I see myself using it a lot in the future. I miss one feature that made me go back to the system PDF viewer: As far as I can tell, it is not possible to create new bookmarks in the viewer, but only open those already present. In the long PDF files I use, this is something I need quite frequently.

Thanks in advance!
  • chuyang.chen
    Why does it seem that no one cares about bookmarks in the PDF reader？This feature is of vital importance for me when reading long papers…
  • liozzlee
    Also need this. That is something really fundamental when you use a PDF reader.
  • adamsmith
    Bookmarks are not a 'reader' but an 'editor' feature (i.e. they become part of the PDF file itself) and as such require significant, separate work. I think there's a good chance they'll happen, but also take some time to happen (FWIW, most people I know use bookmarks in PDFs for ToC navigation and very rarely actually write them).

    Zotero's reader does remember the last page opened and, of course, you can use notes as literal bookmarks.
  • chuyang.chen
    FYI: I'm working on adding this feature to Zotero by myself. I may post my further progress in this discussion https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/97455/feature-request-bookmarks-in-the-pdf-reader#latest
  • JimGrisham
    Perhaps Zotero could implement bookmarks as a special kind of annotation (that is, hidden by default but appearing in exported annotated PDFs, e.g. as “Page bookmarked in Zotero; Description: ______”).

    In other words, they would have nothing to do with official ‘PDF-standard’ TOC or Bookmark data structures.

    These could function as simple page bookmarks (a-la Amazon Kindle and other e-readers) without a title for simplicity, at least in an initial incarnation, toggled in the Zotero PDF reader with a ‘bookmark’ flag-type icon.
  • ncserbest
    I very much look forward to this feature. I think it's necessary for a more efficient use of the Zotero PDF reader.
  • murrayeinarson
    I agree that adding & editing bookmarks is a fundamental feature needed for the Zotero PDF reader. Until then, I use the following work-around: I right click on the PDF attachment in Zotero, then click "show file." That brings up the PDF in its file folder. I then open the file in my desktop PDF editor & add/modify the bookmarks in that program. I then close the file and the the new bookmarks are saved. I then open the attachment in the Zotero PDF reader & add annotations, notes etc. Not ideal but it allows me to use the Zotero PDF app, which has other features that I like.
  • auralworks
    +1. This would be extremely useful.
  • Londi
    Another workaround is to highlight the chapter headings/sections in one color which you use only for this. If you toggle to view only one color of highlighted text, you get a makeshift TOC
  • kmtao
    The claim bookmark is not the feature of reader makes no sense. When we read a book we need bookmark to know where we're.
  • Matthew-hu
    Many pdf's have bookmarks which are active in Zotero. However, I have using a single highlight color as Londi suggested since V6 and it is better, since one doesn't need to switch panels, just filter for the bookmark color. One single click on the annotation jumps you right to the spot like a bookmark.

    IMHO, what is very badly missing is a way to see recently opened pdfs, or much better, as I and others have suggested, a session manager for the reading of pdfs. That would enhance the usability of the pdf reader for research by an order of magnitude in my opinion.
  • adamsmith
    edited December 20, 2023
    I believe a recently opened function/view is planned. And yes, if you want a bookmark in the literal sense, use an annotation.
    PDF bookmarks are named a bit misleadingly and are principally used to reflect document structure/ToC.
    It'd be cool if those could be added to via Zotero, but as I say above, that's a significant update
  • aarondeng
    I also think it is useful. I like to make bookmarks based on the article's table of contents before I read.
  • Plumerianer
    I really miss this feature...
  • martynas_b Zotero Team
    If you're requesting this feature, please clarify how you intend to use it.
  • adamsmith
    I'm not the core constituency here, but for cases where bookmarks weren't properly created for a PDF when it was created, the equivalent of Acrobat's "Create Bookmarks from Structure" (i.e. following the heading structure in the doc) would be convenient.

    There are some acrobat plugins that claim to do this even in the absent of a heading structure, but not sure how well they work/how possible that is -- never tried. I've never been inclined to add bookmarks by hand, personally, but clearly some people here are looking for that (as mentioned above, I'd generally discourage unintended use of bookmarks as actual 'bookmarks': they should reflect document structure in some way).
  • soyeonlee4
    I hope a bookmark feature becomes available. Zotero has underlining, highlighting, and search features like other PDF reading apps, but unlike them, Zotero lacks a bookmark feature. I really don't understand why the feature is missing in Zotero.
  • Lars_Halvor_Hansen
    I also would like this! Please prioritize it and implement it soon! Thanks
  • aus5
    Hello, November 2025 addition to this forum and new Zotero convert. Bookmarking would be of critical value in addition to annotation capabilities. Thank you!
  • murdoc11
    Just want to add another "ditto" to what was already said. I would love this feature and find it almost essential. Thank you for considering it!
  • Jon Rubin
    Just dropping in to say: yes, a proper bookmark/table of contents style editing feature would be stellar
  • Calorion
    >PDF bookmarks are named a bit misleadingly and are principally used to reflect document structure/ToC.

    I am very confused by this claim. The Mac Preview app, for instance, has distinct Bookmarks and Table of Contents tabs, and adding a bookmark does not change the Table of Contents. Moreover, bookmarks created by Preview do not show up in other apps. That’s all we’re asking for here!
  • adamsmith
    No, I don't think that's what everyone is asking for.(look.at the comment right above yours), not least because that's Preview specific The Bookmarks feature in Adobe Acrobat creates the document outline and is part of the PDF standard, i.e. travels between readers.

    If all you want are literal bookmarks, I don't understand why just picking an annotation color wouldn't work.
  • Calorion
    I mean, that *would* work, but it’s not the workflow in *every other PDF reader,* it’s slightly more effort (selecting a word and choosing the proper color as opposed to clicking the ‘bookmark’ icon, or using the keyboard shortcut), and now your PDF is cluttered (on the other hand, you can ‘bookmark’ your actual reading place, not just the page). Plus you’ve got to remember what that highlight means.

    If you look at the comments above, the one you reference is the only one that clearly indicates a desire for the ability to edit/create TOC entries. Others clearly want what I’m referring to, such as those from JimGrisham, kmtao, and (I’m pretty sure) chuyang.chen.
  • adamsmith
    but it’s not the workflow in *every other PDF reader,*
    I don't know how we got from Mac Preview to every other PDF reader. Bookmarks in Adobe Acrobat, i.e. the app by the people who literally define the standard, are a) written to the PDF and become part of the file and b) used to define the document outline. The PDF ISO standard literally defines Bookmarks under the section "Document Outline".

    Zotero I believe, picks up both heading levels and Bookmarks in it's ToC (not sure of the details here of how it does this and I believe added after my comment about this), so you can have a ToC without Bookmarks, but that's a custom feature. pdf.js in Firefox, e.g., only picks up Bookmarks for its document outline and I think that's fairly standard (but haven't researched that part).

    As I say above, I think the PDF feature is poorly named and as a consequence, the requests here are very much mixed between the two. jonschulz, murreyeinlarson, aarondeng are clearly talking about document structure; others are clearly talking about "bookmarks" as the word is conventionally used, yet others say too little for us to know either way.

    I think the annotations feature (which can be tagged or color coded for easy identification of bookmarks) works great for the latter use and adding yet another thing to add to PDFs seems like a poor UX choice. I also think adding a feature called Bookmarks that works different from Bookmarks in Acrobat is a terrible idea (from your description it sounds like that's what Preview did?). OTOH I think allowing people to manually add a document outline is a very reasonable, albeit not trivial, request.
  • Calorion
    I said “workflow,” not “mechanism.” The mechanisms differ; the workflows are the same. They all, save Zotero, have a bookmarking mechanism of one kind or another.

    I can use Acrobat or PDF Expert to add a TOC. Using them to add temporary bookmarks would be counterproductive; I might as well just read it there.

    I agree with you that the naming is problematic and ambiguous. But the *feature* in pretty much every PDF app is not; you click a button and a little ribbon appears, which is quite distinct from the TOC.

    Frankly the *ideal* feature would be like a “page point”, where you click *next to a line* in the PDF to show exactly where you left off reading. Again I agree that you can use Zotero’s highlighting feature for this, but that’s a kludge.
  • mjthoraval
    edited 4 days ago
    You can test this Actions & Tags script to see if that matches your needs:
    https://github.com/windingwind/zotero-actions-tags/discussions/586

    It should be nearly invisible in the reader (in light modes), can be added from a simple configurable shortcut, can be filtered directly from your library and contains the time of adding the annotation.

    If that does not work for you, simply explain the features that you would need.
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