PDF bookmarks, review annotations and attachments: delivery guide
Inspect and replace page bookmarks, remove supported review annotations or extract embedded files. Reopen the downloads and check each document layer separately.
Choose the document layer
Bookmarks point to pages; annotations hold review marks; embedded attachments contain other files. Page extraction or text export does not perform these tasks.
| Task | Input | Output to inspect |
|---|---|---|
| Create navigation | PDF and title/page JSON | PDF outline and bookmark report |
| Remove review marks | Annotated PDF | PDF and per-page annotation counts |
| Recover embedded files | PDF with attachments | Original decoded payloads, ZIP and filename map |
Write a checkable navigation list
Inspect the current bookmarks and page count first. Replace mode takes a flat JSON array with title and one-based page. On a three-page document, the example below targets the opening and final pages. Replacement removes the whole active old outline, including nested entries.
Download the PDF, open its bookmarks panel and select each entry. Inspection marks named or external destinations it cannot resolve; writing supports direct page targets. Detected signatures and XFA prevent editing.
[{"title":"Opening","page":1},{"title":"Appendix","page":3}]Inspect before clearing review marks
Inspection counts the supported review types and their associated popup annotations before any change. Remove mode clears those active annotations while retaining hyperlinks, form widgets and page content. A Redact annotation is retained; removing comments does not apply redaction.
Compare the per-page report with the original. Reopen the result to verify that expected comments disappeared and links, field values and page content still work. Old objects may remain in the PDF, so this action does not establish confidential-data removal.
Recover the attachment bytes
Select a PDF with standard embedded-file name trees or FileAttachment annotations. The workspace decodes unfiltered or single FlateDecode streams within its limits. It does not download external file references.
Use the JSON map to connect original names to safe local download names, then open the individual files or the ZIP. Two original names may become different safe names. Unsupported stream filters fail the run instead of producing a partial, misleading extraction.
Confirm the delivery
- Keep the input PDF and compare page counts after editing.
- Check every new bookmark target in a PDF reader.
- Inspect retained links and form values after review cleanup.
- Compare attachment counts, byte sizes and the filename map with the ZIP.
- Use a suitable processor for signed, encrypted or unsupported documents; keep their original bytes.
References
- PDF Association — ISO 32000
Core PDF format reference. The tool descriptions state the supported local subset.
Tools in this category
Expand a tool to see its steps, options and supported formats, then open its workspace.
PDF bookmark workspaceInspect PDF bookmarks, replace them using titles and page numbers, or clear the active bookmark tree.
Create a named navigation list that travels with your PDF. Inspect existing bookmarks first, then replace the tree using a JSON list of titles and one-based page numbers.
Steps
- Upload the PDF and inspect its current bookmark titles and page targets.
- Select Replace bookmarks and enter a JSON array such as [{"title":"Opening","page":1}]. Each target is a one-based page number.
- Download the PDF and reopen its bookmarks in a PDF reader. To remove navigation instead, select Clear bookmarks.
Available options
- Bookmark task
- Inspect bookmarks · Replace bookmarks · Clear bookmarks
Inspect does not change the PDF. Replace uses the JSON list; clear removes the whole active bookmark tree.
Capabilities and limits
- One unencrypted PDF up to 30 MiB and 300 pages. Replace mode accepts 1–1,000 flat bookmarks; titles may contain Unicode and up to 200 characters. Page numbers must be whole numbers within the document.
- Writing supports direct page destinations only. Existing nested bookmarks are replaced as a whole; named or external targets are marked unsupported during inspection. Detected signatures and XFA are rejected for editing. Clearing removes active navigation, without promising forensic deletion of old PDF objects.
Remove PDF review annotationsRemove supported review comments and markups while preserving hyperlinks, form widgets and page content.
Inspect the review layer before sharing a clean reading copy. Removal follows an explicit list of review annotation types, including linked pop-ups, and keeps hyperlinks and form controls.
Steps
- Upload the PDF and select Inspect annotations to review removal and retention counts per page.
- Select Remove review annotations after checking that hyperlinks, form fields and other annotation types will be retained.
- Download and reopen the cleaned PDF, then verify the links, form values and page appearance. Keep an original copy if you need the review history.
Available options
- Annotation task
- Inspect annotations · Remove review annotations
Inspect lists selected and retained types. Remove clears only the stated review types and linked pop-ups.
Capabilities and limits
- One unencrypted PDF up to 30 MiB, 300 pages and 20,000 annotation entries. Supports Text, FreeText, Line, Square, Circle, Polygon, PolyLine, Highlight, Underline, Squiggly, StrikeOut, Stamp, Caret and Ink; linked Popup annotations follow their removed parent.
- Link, Widget, Redact and other unsupported types are retained. Marks already baked into page content are untouched. Removal affects active annotations and does not provide forensic data deletion or redaction. Detected signatures and XFA are rejected for removal.
Extract PDF attachmentsRecover embedded files from PDF attachment structures and download their original decoded payloads with a filename map.
Recover invoice XML, documents or other files stored inside a PDF. The attachment list records original and safe download names, sizes and locations; each file and a ZIP are available locally.
Steps
- Upload the PDF and extract its standard embedded file attachments.
- Review the original-to-download name mapping, decoded sizes and attachment locations. External references are listed without downloading their targets.
- Download individual files or the ZIP, then open the expected format in your own application. A PDF without supported attachment entries returns an empty report.
Capabilities and limits
- One unencrypted PDF up to 30 MiB and 300 pages; up to 100 file specifications, 10 MiB per decoded attachment and 30 MiB total. Supports standard EmbeddedFiles NameTrees and page FileAttachment annotations with embedded Filespec EF streams.
- Only unfiltered streams or a single FlateDecode filter without DecodeParms are supported. External file references are reported and never fetched. This extracts file attachments rather than page images; files are not opened or executed. Unsafe or duplicate filenames are renamed with an explicit mapping.