Skip to main content
CaptLauren
Inspiring
Apr 28, 2022 9:32 PM UTC
Question

Publisher hypertext and cross-reference links not working

I am using FM 16.04 to create HTML5 help. Although hypertext and cross-reference links work in FM and PDF output (via Publisher), they are often broken in the OLH.

As far as I can tell there is nothing wrong with the links when I examine the HTML in Notepad.

    This topic is closed to new replies. Start a new post to keep the conversation going.

    36 replies

    FrameMaker-dk
    Community Expert
    FrameMaker-dkCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    Jul 10, 2023 7:39 PM UTC

    I have just made a quick test with two types of links. 

    1.  A cross reference from the main textflow of chapter 1 to a text frame inside an anchored frame in chapter two. PDF works fine - HTML5 is broken
    2.  A hotspot inside an anchored frame in the main textflow of chapter 1 linking to a textframe insiden an anchored frame in chapter two. PDF works fine - HTML5 is broken.

    If this is a case similar to yours, I would consider it a bug. This kind of error makes i impossible to, for instance, have hyperlinks in bubble texts on technical drawings.

    Translate
    Bjørn Smalbro - FrameMaker.dk
      TechWright
      Inspiring
      Aug 4, 2023 11:48 AM UTC

      I guess this problem still persists... I've been trying to fix links in my HTML5 output which seem to be working perfectly in the PDF file. In the HTML5 output, the links disappear entirely... A very annoying problem!

      Translate
      Jeff_Coatsworth
      Community Expert
      Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      Aug 4, 2023 12:34 PM UTC

      Did they contain any of the funky text characters that Matt mentioned?

      Translate
      Matt-Tech Comm Tools
      Community Expert
      Matt-Tech Comm ToolsCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 4, 2022 4:27 PM UTC
      • what are examples of the hypertext markers and the xref-ed headings?
      • what is the html code produced in the output?
      Translate
      -Matt Sullivan, FrameMaker Course Creator, Author, Trainer, Consultant
      CaptLaurenAuthor
      Inspiring
      May 4, 2022 4:59 PM UTC

      I have cross-references to headings and table titles only. I have "gotolink" hypertext markers jumping to named destinations within the same book. Everything works within FM and the PDF created by Publisher.

       

      Translate
      FrameMaker-dk
      Community Expert
      FrameMaker-dkCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 3, 2022 4:26 PM UTC

      I believe the feature is broken. I have had the same problem and the conclusion was that hypertext just did not pass over into HTML5. I may be wrong though.

      Translate
      Bjørn Smalbro - FrameMaker.dk
      CaptLaurenAuthor
      Inspiring
      May 4, 2022 5:00 PM UTC

      Wow! That's quite a bug if true! I'm about to call Adobe TCS support to help sort this out. I am running way behind on my project.

      Translate
      Community Expert
      Winfried RengCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      Apr 30, 2022 8:01 AM UTC

      Can you post some of your broken links and if possible also, how they should look like?

      And as a comparison also the same for a good link?

      Translate
      CaptLaurenAuthor
      Inspiring
      May 3, 2022 3:57 PM UTC

      Unfortunately the content is proprietary. However, I'll create a new file and post that soon. Is it possible for TOC markers to "mask" the cross-ref markers? I am also finding that some index markers are also coincident, position-wize, with cross-ref markers.

      Translate
      Jeff_Coatsworth
      Community Expert
      Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      Apr 29, 2022 11:44 AM UTC

      Another thing to check is the total path + filename length of the link targets - FM doesn't have an issue but the RH publish engine certainly does. You can test by moving a copy of your FM content to a nice short path off your C:\ drive and looking at the links that were "bad" before.

      Translate
      CaptLaurenAuthor
      Inspiring
      Apr 29, 2022 6:22 PM UTC

      I moved the source files to the C: drive but unfortunatly got the same result.

      Even within the HTML5 output of the same FM file, I get a "Page Not Found" error even though the target topic does exist.

      Translate
      Community Expert
      Winfried RengCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      Apr 29, 2022 4:48 AM UTC

      Hi CaptLauren,

       

      Are the targets of these cross-references and hyperlinks in the same book? Or do they point to other books? This would not work.

       

      Best regards

       

      Winfried

      Translate
      Jeff_Coatsworth
      Community Expert
      Jeff_CoatsworthCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      Apr 29, 2022 11:45 AM UTC

      They should work (I think) if you employ the "book of books" strategy.

      Translate
      CaptLaurenAuthor
      Inspiring
      Apr 29, 2022 5:37 PM UTC

      On a related issue, when I added a book as a sub book, none of the links from the sub book to the parent book files worked. I believe that Adobe recognizes this as a problem.

      So, in Explorer, I created a child of the folder that contains the main book source files. Then I added each of the FM files in the child folder to the book individually.  The links worked in FM and in PDF, but not when run through Publisher.

      I will now try to shorten the paths to the source FM files and see what happens. At the moment they are a bit "deep" in the directory structure.

      I appreciate all your suggestions and will keep everyone posted about the results.

      Translate
      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices