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Amelia26582338bfi3
Known Participant
January 12, 2023
Question

Hyperlinks in Epub

  • January 12, 2023
  • 1 reply
  • 8504 views

I've set up hyperlinks in my eBook to an external URL, but they don't work when I export the file as reflowable epub. I've opoened the file on both kindle previewer 3 and on my kindle, but there's no recognition that they are even hyperlinks.

When I export as interactive PDF, the hyperlinks do work.

Is there something extra I have to do to activate them for epub?! Maybe something in the export options?

Any help much appreciated.

Thanks!

 

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    1 reply

    James Gifford—NitroPress
    James Gifford—NitroPress
    Legend
    January 12, 2023

    If they are set up correctly, they should work in the EPUB export. There are no settings or options that would affect this.

     

    However, Kindle (mostly the reader) is a selective place for outside links. Not all of the hardware readers support outside web pages, since Kindle is a more or less closed ecosystem. I can't always get a perfectly-formed URL to open in Kindle Previewer, for example, even when it does in the EPUB reader Calibre.

     

    Try this: open the EPUB itself in Thorium or Calibre Reader and see if the links work there.

     

    And if it does work, note that it didn't open in the EPUB viewer... but by passing the address to your browser. Very few "readers" of any kind, EPUB included, open web pages natively like a browser.

     

    ETA: a few more things. First, loading EPUB files to a Kindle through the email process is not any kind of useful test, of either Kindle or EPUB. Although Amazon kind of made a big deal about being able to 'side load' EPUBs, it's actually through a conversion process that doesn't necessarily preserve the file's EPUB characteristics. Other than to just put an EPUB on your Kindle for reading, don't use this process for any kind of testing or evaluation.

     

    Also, Kindle Previewer can be very fussy about links, since it expects to activate them through a touch screen. Try clicking in all places on what's supposed to be a link, especially along the bottom border. The actual click-zone in Previewer can be a very thin line.

     

      A
      Amelia26582338bfi3Author
      Known Participant
      January 12, 2023

      Thanks, they do work in Calibre. But from what you say re Kindle and EPUB, if I'm just putting my eBook up on KDP select, so it will appear nowhere for sale other than Amazon, should I forget hyperlinks? Thanks!

      James Gifford—NitroPress
      James Gifford—NitroPress
      Legend
      January 12, 2023

      No, they should work in "real" Kindle. Try again in Previewer, noting my added comments above about the click area being very tiny.

       

      You can also apply your own formatting to links, to make them more distinctive (since the reader has its own ideas about how to format links) but that can require CSS coding at export time. Try applying a character style to see (bold red, etc.)

       

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