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O
OHCreative
Known Participant
June 30, 2016
Answered

Relative path to links?

  • June 30, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 4156 views

I've created a PDF for a client's presentation.

There are other PDF's, to be accessed during the presentation at certain points.  I have put "Link To A File" links in the right places in the main PDF, and pointed to those secondary PDF's. 

I have included the secondary PDF's with the main PDF.  Everything is in a single folder with no subdirectories.

So when I send my client the zipped folder with all the PDF's, why is it that when my client is clicking the links in the main PDF, it is looking for those secondary PDF's on MY local hard drive!?

I have hunted for a solution to use Relative paths but Acrobat is insistent on using ABSOLUTE, and it's causing me huge embarrassment with my client because I cannot get it working for him.

Cheers

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer try67

The path is not absolute, even though it looks like it. You can easily test it and see for yourself. Move the file to another folder and you'll see that the link path changes with it.

The problem is most likely caused due to viewing the file on an iPad. The file system on mobile devices is quite different to the one on "normal" computers so I'm not surprised that links to other files don't work there. Also, it depends a lot on what app is used, but I think in this case it wouldn't matter much.

1 reply

try67
Community Expert
try67Community Expert
Community Expert
June 30, 2016

Actually, most of the links you can create with Acrobat are relative, and you can't change them to absolute ones, even if you wanted to.

So the question is, how did you create these links, and what kind of action did you associate with them?

Also, it's very important to find out exactly what application the client is using to open the files. My guess is they're using a non-Adobe application, which is why it's not working correctly.

O
OHCreativeAuthor
Known Participant
June 30, 2016

Thanks for the reply.

In that case I'm totally stumped!

Okay so here's the process:  Build the presentation in Quark Xpress (yeah, I actually have to use QXP), I Print to Adobe PDF...

I open the PDF in Acrobat, highlight the text I want to link from, and click Create Link > Open a File.  I select the file which is another PDF contained in the same folder as the one I am editing.  I OK that and select the option to Open in a New Window.

When done, if I then select the link again and hit Edit Link... in the Actions Tab > Actions pane, I can see that the 'Open a file' path is Absolute.

My client is using his iPad.  But I was sure the issue was the Absolute path as described... What do you think?

try67
Community Expert
try67Community ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
June 30, 2016

The path is not absolute, even though it looks like it. You can easily test it and see for yourself. Move the file to another folder and you'll see that the link path changes with it.

The problem is most likely caused due to viewing the file on an iPad. The file system on mobile devices is quite different to the one on "normal" computers so I'm not surprised that links to other files don't work there. Also, it depends a lot on what app is used, but I think in this case it wouldn't matter much.

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