

Here's a minimal example of my document:


\chapter{Very long title}

Here's a screenshot of my problem:

enter image description here


Another alternative might be:

\chaptermark{short title for running headers}





The solution that seems to work in every situation (even with math) is:

\chapter[\texorpdfstring{TOC title \( inline math A \)
    }{TOC in pdf bookmarks}
]{\chaptermark{header} Chapter title \( inline math A \)}

In this solution the pdf bookmarks are defined by \texorpdfstring{#1}{#2}, where #1 is the title inside the pdf document while #2 is the pdf bookmark.

The [shorter] heading is defined by \chaptermark{header}. The repeated command is not a typo, but it is needed in order to have the right behaviour in every situation (do not ask why since I do not have any idea, just by tentative; if you know the reason, please comment. EDIT (2016-03-22): Some explanations can be found HERE)

Important: the solution also works with \section, just change \chaptermark with \sectionmark.

Disclaimer: I wrote the blog post.

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