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OverDoseZA
OverDoseZA
Participant
November 28, 2016
Answered

Powerpoint 2013 hyperlinks not working on MAC

  • November 28, 2016
  • 1 reply
  • 5370 views

Hi,

I've searched different posts on this forum, and although this subject is tackled, it is not exactly the same scenario as I am experiencing. Hence this post.

I'm working on a powerpoint presentation document, which I have created on a Windows 8.1 (64bit) machine, using MS Powerpoint 2013. The PPT presentation contains hyperlinks that point both internally (to other slides within then PPT presentation) and also hyperlinks that point to external files (all PDF's). The whole presentation then gets converted to a PDF via the "Save as PDF" command, to create a PDF file of the main PDF.

When viewing the main PDF presentation file using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (and other versions of pro or reader), all the hyperlinks work fine both internally and externally in finding the slides or files which were specified when creating the hyperlinks in PPT. This all sits in a folder with sub-folders which contain the external files, which as I stated before are all already in PDF format (also created using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC).

The above presentation can then be moved to any other location on my Windows PC, and it will preserve and open the externally hyerlinked files. The same applies when putting the presentation folder onto a USB flash drive and opening it from there, or even putting it on any other Windows PC. This is irrespective of which version of Adobe is used to view it on Windows, or which OS version of Windows (XP, 7, 8 or 10), the files open as they should. So this is not the issue.

The problem happens when the same presentation gets put onto any Apple MAC machine, where all the internal hyperlinks (pointing to locations within the main presentation PDF file) get preserved and they jump to the respective location. But all the hyperlinks pointing to the external PDF files (which sit in sub-folders of the main folder), do not find the external files at all. The Apple MAC machines are running the MacOS Sierra 10.12.1, and also have the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC installed on them. Even the native MacOS application "Preview" does not find the links to the external files.

Is there a way to get any PDF that has hyperlinks created in the manner above, to see / find and open files which are hyperlinked outside of the main PPT file?

PS. And NOT having to create the hyperlinks within Adobe Acrobat, as that is a far more tedious process altogether.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer OverDoseZA

Hi again,

So I did another work in progress test print, and instead of using the "Save as PDF" command to create the PDF's from the Windows machine, I used the "Export" command to create the main PPT presentation file, and also one of the external files which will be linked.

One other step I did differently was to store all the PDF's (main + externally linked PDF's) all in the same folder, unlike before where I had the externally linked files in seperate folders (e.g. Folder Name\External Files Folder\File Name).

Once again, when tested on a Windows machine, the files will work regardless of their location (i.e. Server, C-drive, Desktop or even USB flash drive).

Then I tested on one of the MAC machine's (still MacOS Sierra) and both "Preview" and "Adobe Acrobat Reader DC" were able to find all created hyperlinks, even when opened from the USB flash drive or the desktop.

I recreated the PDF's (using the "Export" command) from the Windows machine, but this time saving the files in the respective folders which will be their final state, and everything checked out ok on the Windows machine, irrespective of the file locations.

But when taken to the MAC machine, both "Preview" and Adobe Acrobat Reader DC" could not find the externally linked files.

So as it stands, MAC clearly does not like "looking" for hyperlinked files once they are housed in a folder structure.

And as for the suggestion to edit the hyperlink in the PDF file, Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (which is the only version installed machine) does not show any option to edit hyperlinks (unlike Adobe Acrobat Pro DC). So I at this point I cannot test that.

We may have to forego storing the linked files in individual folders (which was needed by the client) and have them all as one messy mass of files in one folder. Which not ideal, however is the only workaround so far for crossplatform compatability.

UPDATE:

I think this is the only workable "solution" for the problem I was experiencing.

I have reformatted the entire presentation where it concerns hyperlinking, and all the hyperlinks pointing externally, are pointing to files that are sitting within the same folder (when created on a Windows machine) as the main presentation.

To test whether this works, I moved the entire PDF format folder to various locations on my machine / network and Apple MAC machines, and the hyperlinking works just as it is intended.

Evidently, the keeping externally hyperlinked files in individual folders was what causing the links to not work on a MAC machine.

If someone else can find another solution which involves setting up the files in the original format I used, I would love to hear it.

Thanks.

1 reply

OverDoseZA
OverDoseZAAuthorCorrect answer
Participant
December 5, 2016

Hi again,

So I did another work in progress test print, and instead of using the "Save as PDF" command to create the PDF's from the Windows machine, I used the "Export" command to create the main PPT presentation file, and also one of the external files which will be linked.

One other step I did differently was to store all the PDF's (main + externally linked PDF's) all in the same folder, unlike before where I had the externally linked files in seperate folders (e.g. Folder Name\External Files Folder\File Name).

Once again, when tested on a Windows machine, the files will work regardless of their location (i.e. Server, C-drive, Desktop or even USB flash drive).

Then I tested on one of the MAC machine's (still MacOS Sierra) and both "Preview" and "Adobe Acrobat Reader DC" were able to find all created hyperlinks, even when opened from the USB flash drive or the desktop.

I recreated the PDF's (using the "Export" command) from the Windows machine, but this time saving the files in the respective folders which will be their final state, and everything checked out ok on the Windows machine, irrespective of the file locations.

But when taken to the MAC machine, both "Preview" and Adobe Acrobat Reader DC" could not find the externally linked files.

So as it stands, MAC clearly does not like "looking" for hyperlinked files once they are housed in a folder structure.

And as for the suggestion to edit the hyperlink in the PDF file, Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (which is the only version installed machine) does not show any option to edit hyperlinks (unlike Adobe Acrobat Pro DC). So I at this point I cannot test that.

We may have to forego storing the linked files in individual folders (which was needed by the client) and have them all as one messy mass of files in one folder. Which not ideal, however is the only workaround so far for crossplatform compatability.

UPDATE:

I think this is the only workable "solution" for the problem I was experiencing.

I have reformatted the entire presentation where it concerns hyperlinking, and all the hyperlinks pointing externally, are pointing to files that are sitting within the same folder (when created on a Windows machine) as the main presentation.

To test whether this works, I moved the entire PDF format folder to various locations on my machine / network and Apple MAC machines, and the hyperlinking works just as it is intended.

Evidently, the keeping externally hyperlinked files in individual folders was what causing the links to not work on a MAC machine.

If someone else can find another solution which involves setting up the files in the original format I used, I would love to hear it.

Thanks.

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