How to make a "meta" table of contents for a table of contents?

Question

I'm creating a PDF which will mainly be used on mobile apps. I have a clickable table of contents via the following:

\documentclass{report}

\usepackage{hyperref}
\hypersetup{
    colorlinks,
    citecolor=black,
    filecolor=black,
    linkcolor=blue,
    urlcolor=black
}

\begin{document}
\tableofcontents
\chapter{A}
Lorem ipsum

\chapter{a}
Lorem ipsum

\chapter{aa}
Lorem ipsum

\chapter{aal}
Lorem ipsum

\chapter{aalii}
Lorem ipsum

\chapter{aam}
Lorem ipsum

\chapter{Aani}
Lorem ipsum

\chapter{aardvark}
Lorem ipsum

\chapter{aardwolf}
Lorem ipsum

\chapter{Aaron}
Lorem ipsum

\chapter{Aaronic}
Lorem ipsum

\chapter{Aaronical}
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\chapter{Aaronite}
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\chapter{Aaronitic}
Lorem ipsum

\chapter{Aaru}
Lorem ipsum

\chapter{Ab}
Lorem ipsum

\chapter{aba}
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\chapter{Ababdeh}
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\chapter{Ababua}
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\chapter{abac}
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\chapter{abaca}
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\chapter{abacate}
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\chapter{abacay}
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\chapter{abacinate}
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\chapter{abacination}
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\chapter{abaciscus}
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\chapter{abacist}
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\chapter{aback}
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\chapter{abactinal}
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\chapter{abactinally}
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\chapter{abaction}
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\chapter{abactor}
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\chapter{abaculus}
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\chapter{abacus}
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\chapter{Abadite}
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\chapter{abaff}
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\chapter{abaft}
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\chapter{abaisance}
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\chapter{abaiser}
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\chapter{abaissed}
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\chapter{abalienate}
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\chapter{abalienation}
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\chapter{abalone}
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\chapter{Abama}
Lorem ipsum

\end{document}

The problem is, the table of contents is huge, so it's difficult for a user to navigate to chapter 2, section 500, subsection 350. It's a lot of scrolling within the table of contents (in the example, the table of contents is 2 pages long).

To solve this problem, I want to have a table of contents before the table of contents, which does something like this (the sections are alphabetized):

Meta-table of contents

1. A-Ababua
2. abac-Abama

Table of contents

1. A
2. a
3. aa

...

25. Ababua

---Page break---

26. abac

...

50. Abama

Actual content

...

How can I achieve this in LaTeX? Can I hook into the table of contents somehow or will I have to generate my own table of contents? I don't need page numbers, so if I have to generate my own table of contents I wouldn't have to worry about that.

Answer 1

Here is something I set up for quick access to 100 different chess puzzles.

\documentclass{beamer}
\begin{document}\large

\null\vfil
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{rrrrrrrrrr}
\multicolumn{10}{c}{Links}\\
\\
\hyperlink{p1}{1}&\hyperlink{p2}{2}&\hyperlink{p3}{3}&\hyperlink{p4}{4}&\hyperlink{p5}{5}
&\hyperlink{p6}{6}&\hyperlink{p7}{7}&\hyperlink{p8}{8}&\hyperlink{p9}{9}&\hyperlink{p10}{10}\\
\hyperlink{p11}{11}&\hyperlink{p12}{12}&\hyperlink{p13}{13}&\hyperlink{p14}{14}&\hyperlink{p15}{15}
&\hyperlink{p16}{16}&\hyperlink{p17}{17}&\hyperlink{p18}{18}&\hyperlink{p19}{19}&\hyperlink{p20}{20}\\
\hyperlink{p21}{21}&\hyperlink{p22}{22}&\hyperlink{p23}{23}&\hyperlink{p24}{24}&\hyperlink{p25}{25}
&\hyperlink{p26}{26}&\hyperlink{p27}{27}&\hyperlink{p28}{28}&\hyperlink{p29}{29}&\hyperlink{p30}{30}\\
\hyperlink{p31}{31}&\hyperlink{p32}{32}&\hyperlink{p33}{33}&\hyperlink{p34}{34}&\hyperlink{p35}{35}
&\hyperlink{p36}{36}&\hyperlink{p37}{37}&\hyperlink{p38}{38}&\hyperlink{p39}{39}&\hyperlink{p40}{40}\\
\hyperlink{p41}{41}&\hyperlink{p42}{42}&\hyperlink{p43}{43}&\hyperlink{p44}{44}&\hyperlink{p45}{45}
&\hyperlink{p46}{46}&\hyperlink{p47}{47}&\hyperlink{p48}{48}&\hyperlink{p49}{49}&\hyperlink{p50}{50}\\
\hyperlink{p51}{51}&\hyperlink{p52}{52}&\hyperlink{p53}{53}&\hyperlink{p54}{54}&\hyperlink{p55}{55}
&\hyperlink{p56}{56}&\hyperlink{p57}{57}&\hyperlink{p58}{58}&\hyperlink{p59}{59}&\hyperlink{p60}{60}\\
\hyperlink{p61}{61}&\hyperlink{p62}{62}&\hyperlink{p63}{63}&\hyperlink{p64}{64}&\hyperlink{p65}{65}
&\hyperlink{p66}{66}&\hyperlink{p67}{67}&\hyperlink{p68}{68}&\hyperlink{p69}{69}&\hyperlink{p70}{70}\\
\hyperlink{p71}{71}&\hyperlink{p72}{72}&\hyperlink{p73}{73}&\hyperlink{p74}{74}&\hyperlink{p75}{75}
&\hyperlink{p76}{76}&\hyperlink{p77}{77}&\hyperlink{p78}{78}&\hyperlink{p79}{79}&\hyperlink{p80}{80}\\
\hyperlink{p81}{81}&\hyperlink{p82}{82}&\hyperlink{p83}{83}&\hyperlink{p84}{84}&\hyperlink{p85}{85}
&\hyperlink{p86}{86}&\hyperlink{p87}{87}&\hyperlink{p88}{88}&\hyperlink{p89}{89}&\hyperlink{p90}{90}\\
\hyperlink{p91}{91}&\hyperlink{p92}{92}&\hyperlink{p93}{93}&\hyperlink{p94}{94}&\hyperlink{p95}{95}
&\hyperlink{p96}{96}&\hyperlink{p97}{97}&\hyperlink{p98}{98}&\hyperlink{p99}{99}&\hyperlink{p100}{100}
\end{tabular}
\end{center}

\newpage
\hypertarget{p1}{1}

\newpage
\hypertarget{p2}{2}

\end{document}