Hyperlink in MS-Word to a specific page in a PDF that is in the cloud on Adobe.com

[PAUL23827502om35]

In an MS-Word document (a medical/legal chronology), I want to insert a hyperlink to a specific page in a PDF that resides in the cloud on Adobe.com (a 400 page PDF of medical records).  I want to link to a specific page so the reader only has to click once on the hyperlink and be taken to the exact location in the medical records that corresponds to the date in the MS-Word chronology.

While the PDF was open on my screen, I generated a link by clicking the Share button.

I edited this by appending "#page=5" to the end of the link.  I then created the hyperlink in the Word document with that addendum.

Clicking the hyperlink in the Word document takes me to page one, not page 5.

When the PDF resides on my local drive or on CanLII [eg, https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bcca/doc/2023/2023bcca110/2023bcca110.pdf#page=7 ], I have met with success, but not when the PDF resides on Adobe.com, nor on Google Drive, nor on Dropbox. 

Is there a solution? 

I had expected that hyperlinking to specific pages in PDFs in the cloud on Adobe.com would be used frequently in these modern times when cloud-based solutions seem to be the trend.

[Amal.]

Hi there,

Hope you are doing well, and thanks for reaching out and for your detailed explanation.

You're right: appending #page=5 works for many PDF viewers when the file is hosted on a direct-access link (like from CanLII or your local drive). However, Adobe Document Cloud links and similar cloud-based services (e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox) do not support direct page linking via #page= in shared URLs.

As a workaround, if you have control over the PDF:

• Open it in Adobe Acrobat Pro.
• Add bookmarks at key pages (e.g., by date or topic).
• Share the document link and ask the reader to use bookmarks for navigation.

While this doesn’t jump to the page from a Word hyperlink, it helps readers find the page quickly.

Hope this information will help.

[PAUL23827502om35]

Thanks Amal.  I added a named Destination, then created a Bookmark.  For the Bookmark's Properties, I selected Action, and that Action goes to the named Destination instead of going to a Page number.  I did this in case I decide to insert or remove some pages, so that the Bookmark goes where I want it to go, rather than going to page 5 which would no longer be the right page.

Do you have any suggestions to make that easier, with fewer steps?

I wondered if the shared PDF on Adobe Document Cloud would display the Destinations that are in the original PDF, but the Destinations disappear from the shared PDF  , whereas Bookmarks are preserved.  Is there a way to keep the Destinations available / viewable on shared PDFs on Adobe Document Cloud?

[Amal.]

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing how you're using named Destinations and Bookmarks its a good way to keep links accurate, especially if you add or remove pages later.

Right now, there's no single button in Acrobat that creates a Destination and a Bookmark together. But here are a couple of tips you can use:

• Use the Destinations panel: You can open it from the side panel (View > Show/Hide > Navigation Panes > Destinations). It helps you create and reuse Destinations more quickly.

• If you're comfortable with it, Acrobat does let you set up automation using JavaScript or the Action Wizard. But that’s a bit more technical. To know more about action wizard, please check the help page https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/action-wizard-acrobat-pro.html 

When you share your PDF through Adobe Document Cloud (like when someone views it in a browser), named Destinations don’t work there. The web viewer only supports basic features like Bookmarks and clickable links. So even if you set Destinations in the original file, they won’t show up in the online version.
Please try using the following and see if that works:

• Use Bookmarks instead — they stay visible when shared online.

• If the document will only be viewed online, try not to rely only on Destinations.

• For full features (like Destinations), ask people to download the file and open it in the desktop Acrobat Reader instead of just viewing it in a browser.

Hope this information will help