Turn a PDF into a structured outline with numbered sections
Convert a PDF into a numbered outline of main sections and lettered sub-points, keeping names, figures, dates and section order as written. Free to try.
This preview shows the first 150 words and does not keep your file.
Need a different result? Turn anything into anything: drop any file, pick what you want out of it.Try it →A PDF keeps its sections as page layout, so text copied out often breaks mid-sentence and the order of headings and paragraphs becomes hard to follow. This page reads the first pages of your PDF and writes a numbered outline: main sections with lettered sub-points, one short line each, in the order the document gives them. Names, figures and dates stay as written.
What you get
Numbered main sections
Each heading in the PDF becomes a numbered main section, in the same order the pages give them.
Lettered sub-points
Under each section, the key points appear as lettered lines of one short sentence each, so you can see what sits under what.
Figures and dates kept exact
Names, amounts, percentages and dates are copied as written rather than rounded or reworded, so you can check them against the source.
How it works
- Step 1
Paste text from your PDF into the box, or drop the file in. The preview reads up to 5 pages or about 6,000 characters.
- Step 2
Read the preview: numbered main sections with lettered sub-points, in the order of the document, in the same language as the PDF.
- Step 3
A free account gives you the full outline for longer files, a deeper outline, and the outline as an editable document or a draft built from it.
Who uses it
Readers of long reports
Get the layout of a 40-page report on one screen before deciding which sections to read in full.
Anyone reviewing a contract or policy
See where each clause group starts and which sub-points belong to it, with the dates and amounts kept as written.
Editors checking a draft
Compare the section order of a PDF version against your plan to spot missing or misplaced headings.
Questions
Does the outline keep the numbers, names and dates from my PDF?
Yes. The outline is built only from what the PDF says, and names, figures, dates and the order of sections are kept exactly as written. Results can still contain mistakes, so check the outline against the original PDF when the details matter.
Will it work on a scanned PDF?
A scanned PDF is only a picture of the text, so the preview cannot read it directly. A free account adds OCR (text recognition) for scans.
Why does the preview stop partway through my document?
The preview reads up to 5 pages of a PDF (2 MB) or about 6,000 characters of text. A free account handles whole documents and gives the full outline.
Is my PDF stored after the outline is made?
The preview does not keep the file. Accounts are needed for the full document, and what they keep is described in the account settings.
What language is the outline written in?
The outline is written in the same language as the PDF, so a German report produces a German outline and a French contract a French one.
Related tools
See it on real examples
Three actual runs of this tool. Open one to see the input and the whole result.