Adobe Acrobat bookmarks to create pdf notes

As I have transitioned completely to digital reading, and to digital note-taking, I have realised that I have not ever done a post explaining HOW I have done this, or what I use.

I didn't want to use anything other than the straight-forward kit that I already have and regularly use. I use Adobe Acrobat as my 'standard' pdf management tool. While I once tried using the Adobe Acrobat highlight tool for annotating my pdfs, I didn't like it as it stopped me from being able to select the text. If I want to quote from a document, or search it, I want to be able to highlight and copy the text. Isn't that the best part about going digital, after all?

Luckily, there is a neat trick where we can use the Bookmark function to highlight the notes we want to take within a pdf article. This works well with journal articles, as they are short, so rarely use the bookmark function.

I have created a video explaining how I create bookmarks in a document, below.

Further, if you want to know how to export the bookmarks as another pdf (i.e. using "print to pdf" rather than a printer), read my blog post here (NB: you will need to download and install a piece of freeware, to which I provide a link). Further, it may help to watch the very brief video below.

In addition, sometimes promoting and demoting Acrobat bookmarks can be a little tricky. I have a blog post on how to do that here.

Because I don't use the free Adobe Reader, I don't know if all of this will work in that particular version. It certainly works in Adobe Acrobat.

I hope all that assists!

Sam