Disable Links in PDF?

[fotojunkie67]

Is there  way to disable links in a pdf?

I know all about the link tool and the actual,  underlined links.  Those are easy to disable by deleting the information or redirecting them elsewhere.

However, there are links that appear as text in the document, but when you pass your cursor ove them, they are actually links.

I am working with emails that have been converted to pdf docs and I am seeing this quite a bit.

Is there a way to disable those particular types of links?  I have been using the link tool to put a box around the link and redirect it.  I am concerned, though, that this measure can be removed and the information can be accessed.

Is there a more permanent, secure method?

[Bernd Alheit]

Why want you disable the links?

[fotojunkie67]

For security reasons.

[Bernd Alheit]

Remove the links with the Redaction Tool.

[fotojunkie67]

Well, I am redacting the first part of the email address, but I have to leave the domain part.

Even when part of the address is redacted, you can still view the full email address (link) by hovering your cursor over the domain name.

[Laura_M_]

Under Advanced > Document Processing  there is a "Remove all links" option which will remove all links in the document or on a specified page range. But that's going to remove all links. If there are links you'll want to maintain you'd have to recreate them or (if it would work) select only a page range.

[~graffiti]

Keep in mind that if the links are spelled out (start with http:// or the like) they may be recognized as links on the users end unless they have disabled that function (it's on by defaut) in Reader or Acrobat.

[Laura_M_]

Good point, files generated by applications such as Word will have links created automatically from URLs if (in Preferences > General tab)  "Create Links from URLs" is ON, and which is ON by default. This doesn't seem to happen with files created in InDesign or Illustrator.

[fotojunkie67]

I am creating from emails originating from Outlook.

This is a bit of a nightmare.  Many, many (email address) links that look like innocent text, but are actually links to folks' personal email.

Maybe I should have clarified that in my first post, that it is email address links.  I apologize, I was just pretty frustrated and fired off the post without giving all of the details.  Sorry. 

[fotojunkie67]

Yes, thank you.  I have figured out how to disable those.  However, the email address links are the ones giving me trouble.

Any ideas???

[fotojunkie67]

OK, this was extremely helpful and made my job, on one level, much easier.  Thank you.

However, I am working with emails that appear to originate from Outlook and there are links within the doc that appear as text yet when you position your cursor over them, they are actually links.  There is nothing to indicate that they are links, no http at the beginning, nothing.

An example, from an email:

------Original Message-------

From: Doe, John < john.doe @ nodomain.com >  (sans the spaces, of course)

Now, when you look at it, it does not appear to be a link, but when you position your cursor over it, a little window pops up that says "mailto:john.doe @ nodomain.com." This is what I want to get rid of.

I don't want anyone to be able to position their cursor over the email area and be able to obtain the full email address.  I am redacting the first part, but must leave the domain part so this is my dilemma.

Anyone have any good ideas?  How can I avoid this in the future?  Or is there even a way to avoid this?  Is this something that just can't be done?

I welcome any suggestions.  Thanks.

[AnnaD13-h4pQ3Z]

Hello fotojunkie67

Were you able to resolve this? We're running into the same problems.

We were able to come up with a work around by placing a link box over the 'url' text and having the url go nowhere.

The pdf allows a cursor or pointer to hover over and click on the text but it doesn't go anywhere.

We're thinking there is a better solution.

AD

[Bernd Alheit]

In the preferences you can disable the entry 'Create links from URLs'.

[Michele5FEA]

In Acrobat DC, it is under Preferences>General>Basic Tools, 2nd option.

🙂
thank you all for this thread, it helped me a lot ! (11 years later!!)

Cheers!

[ABurns2022]

This was so helpful. My team and myself have been trying to figure out how to disable the hyperlinks in PDF documents for a long time. I can't believe it was as simple as unchecking the "create links from URL's" option. Thanks so much!!!!!

[Lorraine5CEF]

Unfortunately, this just disables viewing the link in a file that has the option selected. The link is still there.

Is there no way to actually delete these links? Sanitizing the documen is too destructive; it also destroys the ability for the text to be read by a screen reader for ADA compliance.

[Bernd Alheit]

In Adobe Acrobat Pro you can use the redaction tool.

[try67]

There's some confusion here. You use the term links incorrectly, I think. What you want to remove are the email addresses. A link is an interactive object that the user can click and something happens. Removing it won't make any difference because the email addresses themselves would still be visible.

In order to remove those you need to use the Redact Text tool. If it doesn't have a built-in pattern to detect (and remove) email addresses one can be added to it, although it's quite tricky, since the rules for what is an email address are very complex.

[Test Screen Name]

These links are automatically generated based on the text on the page. You can turn this off FOR YOURSELF. You cannot stop other people, using all sorts of software to view the PDF, from having automatically generated links from text.

[ABurns2022]

Okay, so you're saying if I send the document to be viewed by someone else, they can perhaps enable the hyperlinks on their end? Using their Adobe and going into preferences? 

[Test Screen Name]

"they can perhaps enable the hyperlinks on their end? Using their Adobe and going into preferences? ". No perhaps. And their option will already be on. You are only turning off what happens on YOUR system. And they probably aren't even viewing in Adobe software. If they use Chrome or Edge or Preview, they couldn't even turn it off. 
It's hard to see how this can be a security issue. The link address (http...) is clearly visible on the page, so the user could simply copy/paste it or retype it to use it. 

[ABurns2022]

Thank you - this really helps! 

[JR Boulay]

As try67 wrote there are two things to remove:

1. you must remove all "links" objects, as explained above.

2. You must remove the text in the layout, and that's the hardest part because Acrobat Pro's Find-and-Replace function, which might replace only part of the address, doesn't support GREP. And because the "Redact" function that supports GREP will remove the full email address, so without leaving the domain name visible.

The easiest solution would be to install and use a custom GREP pattern/query in the "Redact" tool.

Otherwise you will therefore need to use a custom JavaScript script.

You can send me a private message (or to try67) for a quote.