How to Create Navigation Buttons in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat

This tutorial shows how to create navigation buttons in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat. Navigation buttons, which are made from Acrobat’s action buttons, help readers move through your PDF by offering options such as First Page, Previous Page, Next Page, and Last Page. In addition to creating buttons, we will also distribute those buttons across multiple pages.

Do you want to create a button to a specific page view, such as part of a page, a form, an image, or an embedded video? Visit “How to Create Buttons to Page Views in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat.”

Quick Links:

How to Create Navigation Buttons
How to Change the Appearance of Buttons
How to Distribute Buttons across Multiple Pages

This tutorial is also available as a YouTube video showing all the steps in real time.

Watch more than 150 other writing-related software tutorials on my YouTube channel.

The images below are from Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. The steps are the same in Adobe Acrobat Standard DC, Adobe Acrobat 2020, and Adobe Acrobat 2017. Adobe’s free PDF display software, Acrobat Reader, does not provide a way to create buttons. However, buttons created in Acrobat will work in Reader.

Important Note: Acrobat’s buttons may not work in all apps and/or devices. Therefore, you should test your buttons in a variety of environments if your audience will access your PDF with apps other than Adobe Acrobat, Acrobat Reader, or a standard web browser.

This section shows how to add “First Page,” “Previous Page,” “Next Page,” and “Last Page” buttons. However, you can use other labels such as “Return to Top” or “Back.”

Select the Tools tab.

Adobe Acrobat Tools Tab — Figure 1. Tools tab

Select Rich Media in the Tools Center.

Rich Media button in the Tools Center in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 2. Rich Media button

Select Add Button in the Rich Media toolbar.

Add Button in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 3. Add Button button

Move the button outline to the location where you want to create the first button.

Button outline in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 4. Button outline

Click on that location if you want to accept the default button size. Alternatively, you can click and drag your mouse to resize the button outline.

Type the name of the button in the Field Name text box. (This does not have to be the same as the label that will appear in the button.)

Button Field Name text box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 5. Field Name text box

Repeat steps 3 through 6 to create additional buttons, as necessary.

Multiple buttons with default appearance in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 6. Multiple buttons with default appearance

Right-click the first button, and then select Properties from the shortcut menu.

Button Properties option in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 7. Properties option

Select the Actions tab in the Button Properties dialog box.

Actions tab in the Button Properties dialog box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 8. Actions tab

Ensure that Mouse Up is selected in the Select Trigger menu.

Mouse Up button option in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 9. Mouse Up option

Select Execute a menu item in the Select Action menu.

Execute a Menu Item option in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 10. “Execute a menu item” option

Select the Add button.

Button Properties Add button in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 11. Add button

Select an option from the Menu Item dialog box:

- View > Page Navigation > First Page
- View > Page Navigation > Previous Page
- View > Page Navigation > Next Page
- View > Page Navigation > Last Page

Menu Item dialog box navigation options in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 12. Navigation options

Select the OK button to close the Menu Item dialog box.

Menu Item dialog box OK button in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 13. Menu Item OK button

Select the Options tab.

Button Properties dialog box Options tab in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 14. Options tab

Enter the text you want to appear in the button in the Label text box.

Button Properties dialog box Label text box in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 15. Label text box

Select the Close button in the Button Properties dialog box.

Button Properties dialog box Close button in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 16. Button Properties Close button

Repeat steps 8 through 17 for each additional button.
(Optional Step) Select the Close button in the Rich Media toolbar, and then test your new buttons. (The buttons won’t work if the Rich Media toolbar is open.)

Toolbar Close button in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 17. Rich Media toolbar Close button

How to Change the Appearance of Buttons in PDFs

This section shows how to change the appearance of multiple buttons at once.

These steps will work for any action buttons in your PDF, not just navigation buttons.

Skip to step 3 if your Rich Media toolbar is already open.

Select the Tools tab (see figure 1).
Select Rich Media in the Tools Center (see figure 2).
Select Select Object in the Rich Media toolbar.

Rich Media toolbar Select Object button in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 18. Select Object button

Click and drag your cursor around all the buttons to select all of them at once. (The name boxes will turn blue when selected.)

Multiple selected buttons in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 19. Multiple selected buttons

Right-click a button, and then select Properties from the shortcut menu (see figure 7).
Select the Appearance tab in the Button Properties dialog box.

Button Properties dialog box Appearance tab in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 20. Appearance tab

Select a border color, line thickness, fill color, line style, font size, text color, and font style.

Button Properties dialog box Appearance options in Adobe Acrobat — Figure 21. Appearance options

Select the Close button in the Button Properties dialog box (see figure 16).
Select the Close button in the Rich Media toolbar (see figure 17).

Your buttons should now feature your new appearance choices.

How to Distribute Buttons across Multiple Pages in PDFs

You can distribute (i.e., copy) your buttons across all the pages in your PDF or across a specific page range.

These steps will work for any action buttons in your PDF, not just navigation buttons.

Skip to step 3 if your Rich Media toolbar is already open.

Select the Tools tab (see figure 1).
Select Rich Media in the Tools Center (see figure 2).

Select Select Object in the Rich Media toolbar (see figure 18).

Click and drag your cursor around all the buttons to select all of them at once (see figure 19). (The name boxes will turn blue when selected.)
Right-click a button, and then select Duplicate Across Pages from the shortcut menu.