Participant

Question

create PDF hyperlinks in illustrator

Forum|Forum|10 years ago
October 22, 2015
3 replies
33365 views

Hello.

Have been trying to create hyperlinks in Illustrator CC following the usual procedures of typing the full URL, using Slices etc. Whatever I do, it just isn't outputting clickable links in the generated PDF. Does anyone know of other methods or if there is something I am missing in the way I'm saving or something?

Many thanks.

A

Alexis25049143ltxs

Participant

Hey! 2024 visiting here - for those who forget like me: the best way to embed links for text and photos in Illustrator:

1. select the image or text

2. Window > Attributes

3. Image map: select "rectangle"

4. add URL to the box

5. escape window

6. done!

C

carlf45106773

Participant

and just to add, if you want to link one page to another in the same pdf, select the text or objext and go to attributes, in the URL box, enter "#page=X" (without the " marks, and replacing X with the documents artboard number, eg. 2 for page 2)

pubTone

Adobe Employee

Hey

This is possible in Illustrator, but it's a bit "hacky". First of all, I'm making the assumption here that the "generated PDF" is:

you saving the .ai file as an Illustrator PDF (btw: technically they all are—sort of—unless you turn off "Create PDF Compatible File" in the save options dialog) or
You opening the .ai file in Acrobat

If it's "A":

Add the hyperlinks in Acrobat. They should be preserved even if you edit the file later in Illustrator. In Acrobat DC, you use the Edit Page tools and the Link toolbar item to add them.

If it's "B":

All text that begins with "http" should automatically become a hyperlink in the PDF you send out. You could create that text, and put it behind objects—as interactive elements live on an invisible layer above everything else, the object will become clickable. This may involve you having several instances of the hyperlink behind the object.

The Better Way

Import the .ai file into an InDesign document
With the rectangle tool, create invisible shapes (no fill/stroke attributes) over the areas you want to make clickable, then export using the PDF (Interactive) preset.

Hope that helps.

D

designu46483552

Inspiring

Typically, this sucks. Adobe Illustrator can save PDFs but making a linked graphic requires a hack or a slice (which can fail in Adobe Acrobat/everywhere else). This is 2018- we should be able to just select a symbol, embedded raster image or text object and right-click to add a working hyperlink. Talk about primitive!

Found this useful though (when applied to embedded raster images though it requires another unreliable kludge fix).

How to Link an Image to a URL in Illustrator : Illustrator Tutorials - YouTube

I'm going to go with a transparent overlaid rectangle with an attribute URL myself, maybe that'll work.

D

designu46483552

Inspiring

nah- didn't work.

I've found that both Attributes and Slices, for embedded raster image links, fail when you open the PDF in Acrobat for testing.

sishamIAGD

Community Expert

You cannot create hyperlinks with Illustrator. You need to add the links in Acrobat. Or if it is a www.example.com it will auto pick up when saved as a PDF.

Larry G. Schneider

Community Expert

The automatic linking of URLs is a user-defined preference in Acrobat. Some people may have it turned off. Always make sure that you have enabled full URLs by linking in Acrobat.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded