creating a pdf table of contents in preview

The Table of Contents is produced by the word processing application before the PDF generation. Those original PDF contents cannot be altered by Apple's Preview which is a PDF Reader and annotation tool, not a true PDF Editor. As the internal structure of a PDF is not that of the original word-processing document from which it was created, it will be impossible to regenerate a table of contents from the existing PDF.

As fellow users, we do not know about Apple's future product planning, but its Preview application has been a PDF Reader/Annotation tool for over two decades in macOS.

There are third-party PDF Editors available for single-purchase such as Master PDF Editor. Do not expect these to generate a Table of Contents from existing PDF content as that is a function of the original word processing or DTP application that created the PDF.

I think it's going to requirea 3rd party App to get it done with Preview...

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/202337/edit-table-of-contents-in-preview

Look into the Free LibreOffice, it handles MS Office files like Word & Excel, & Page Layout…

https://www.libreoffice.org/

This is done automatically when you export to PDF unless you changed TOC parameters.

First condition to get a “correct” TOC in Writer is to style all your chapter, sub-chapter, … headings with the Heading n paragraph style family. Chapter heading is formatted with Heading 1, sub-chapter with Heading 2, etc.

The TOC must not be created manually, otherwise Writer does not know it is a TOC. Use Insert>Indexes & Tables>Index, TOC or Bibilography. The Heading n paragraphs are collected to make the TOC.

By default, TOC entries will contain hyperlink to jump back to the headings. These links are forwarded to the PDF.

More information on the style system can be found in the Writer Guide.

https://ask.libreoffice.org/t/how-do-i-create-the-table-of-contents-in-pdf-file/66272

Drbhavyayagnik wrote:

Its been years I have been a way to add individual custom table of contents & edit already existing table of contents

its such a basic feature but apple just doesn't seem to listen & is so frustrating

Apple first provided that feature almost two decades ago.

I don't want to use 3rd party apps for pdfs cause it uses additional space & there is always subscription

First of all, this is false. Apple pages is free. Secondly, you post a screenshot from your computer. We call all see how many 3rd party apps you've installed. They're right there in the menubar. I'm sure you have many more that aren't in the menubar.

not asking here for apple to convert pdfs to other formats like word or document

PDF is not a format. It's essentially an image. It was designed to be printed and nothing else.

just the capability to add edit & remove table of contents or outlines

So do it then.

please somebody help

Nobody is going to do it for you. You are the one that is going to have to double-click on the Pages icon and enter your content.

maybe apple desperately keeps this unusable so that uses are forced to use 3rd party apps & pay for subscriptions so that apple can make a cut

Did you just come here to spread misinformation or what?

hope apple listens

just frustration of a regular college student with Mac

All the hip kids are using Google Docs for these things. Maybe you should consider that.