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    Create PDF Article Threads

    Create article threads that follow stories across columns

    1Choose file2Settings3Process4Save

    Choose a PDF and its contents will be analyzed and shown here.

    Files are processed only in this browser. Nothing is uploaded to a server.

    Let readers follow a story across columns and pages with the spacebar or a click

    Continue in another tool
    Task settings

    On the page preview, drag to mark the boxes (beads) in the order the article continues. If you get the order wrong, Undo removes the last box. Use ＋ New article to create a thread for another article; threads already in the document can be deleted from the list.

    Remove the password from an encrypted PDF first. Processing focuses on page content, so bookmarks, attachments, forms and signatures may not be preserved. Keep the original and check the result.

    About Create PDF Article Threads

    In multi-column PDFs such as newspapers, magazines and journals, one story runs from the left column to the right, then jumps several pages ahead. Reading that on screen means zooming in, panning between columns and hunting for “continued on page 12”. Article threads are the PDF feature that chains boxes, called beads, in the story's reading order.

    In this tool you drag a box on the preview and it's added as the next bead of the selected article. You can create several articles and give each a title. In viewers that support threads, you click inside an article and keep advancing, and the viewer follows the boxes in order.

    What gets written to the file

    Each article becomes one thread in the catalog's Threads array. The thread records its title and first bead, and every bead records its page, its rectangle and the next (N) and previous (V) beads. The last bead's next points back to the first, forming the circular list the specification requires. Beads can continue within a page or across pages.

    When you open a PDF that already has threads, they're listed with their title, bead count and pages. Only the threads you mark for deletion are removed when you apply; the rest stay in place and the new articles are appended after them. Page content is not changed.

    Where it works, and where it doesn't

    Article threads are an old feature supported mainly by desktop viewers such as Adobe Acrobat and Reader. The built-in PDF viewers in Chrome, Edge and Firefox, and most mobile apps, don't read them and just show the pages as usual. The file isn't harmed, so adding threads costs nothing, but if most readers open the PDF in a browser, bookmarks or linked contents are a more reliable guide.

    Screen readers and the reading order of a tagged PDF are a separate matter. Reading order for accessibility is set with structure tags, not threads.

    Worked examples

    The lead story of a three-column newsletter

    Input
    A 4-page newsletter; the lead story runs page 1 left column → page 1 middle column → page 3 right column; three boxes drawn in that order
    Output
    One thread titled “Lead story” with 3 beads (pages 1, 1, 3)

    In a supporting viewer, clicking the first column and advancing moves to the middle column on page 1, then skips page 2 and goes straight to the right column on page 3.

    How to use it

    1. Add the PDF and set the article title.
    2. Drag boxes on the preview in the order the article continues; use New article for another story.
    3. Apply, save, and click inside an article in Acrobat Reader to follow it.

    Frequently asked questions

    Can I delete or edit existing threads?

    You can delete them. Opening a file lists the threads it contains, and any you mark with Delete are removed when you apply. Their beads can't be edited, so delete a thread and draw it again as a new article.

    I drew the boxes in the wrong order.

    Undo removes the last box. New boxes always go at the end of the list and can't be inserted in the middle, so undo back to where the order went wrong and draw again from there.

    Does it work on rotated pages?

    The preview shows pages in their unrotated orientation and coordinates are saved on that basis. Draw the boxes on the page as it appears, even if it looks sideways.

    Notes

    How document-wide structures hang off the catalog is covered in the guide “How PDF Files Work”.

    Sources

    Last reviewed:

    Privacy and how data is handled

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