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Francesco281678363vyl
Participating Frequently
January 30, 2023
Question

How to block auto url text?

  • January 30, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 2918 views

Hello, I have a problem that I can not solve.
In a PDF file when there is a URL text (eg www.google.com) it automatically becomes linkable.
Even if I remove the link, the text remains clickable.
How can I make all URL text non-clickable?
Thanks everyone for the help.

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

Dave__M
Community Expert
Dave__MCommunity Expert
Community Expert
January 30, 2023

What method are you using to remove the links?  And when you state that the text remains clickable, does the cursor behave as if you would click, it would be interacting with a link, or does it create an insertion point (as in editing)?  I am finding some peculiarities with this routine as well - it does not behave as expected.

My best,

Dave

F
Francesco281678363vylAuthor
Participating Frequently
January 31, 2023

To remove the link use the Edit tool.
But the url text is not recognized as a link and is not deleted. This type of text always remains clickable.

My goal is to block all url text without changing its text.

Can you help me find a solution? Thanks

T
Test Screen Name
Legend
January 31, 2023

The only possible solution was already mentioned by try67. This, however, will be a huge nuisance for people who want to copy and extract the link, and may also be illegal if you are legally obliged to make accessible PDFs.

Many apps will scan a PDF page text for what looks like a link, and make it live. There is no way to turn this off for other people's apps.

try67
Community Expert
try67Community Expert
Community Expert
January 30, 2023

This is a setting of the application. You can't disable it from your file.

What you can do, though, is prevent the application from detecting the link, for example by removing the "www." part, or even by adding a space after it.

F
Francesco281678363vylAuthor
Participating Frequently
January 31, 2023

I saw that from the preferences I can disable the link, but I wish it was also for other people reading the file. I would like the link to always be locked in the file.

Being a file that I have to publish, I cannot delete the www or leave spaces in the text that shouldn't be there.

 

try67
Community Expert
try67Community Expert
Community Expert
January 31, 2023

Your only other option is to replace the text with an image, then.

Why does it matter if there's a clickable link?

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