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ashimg23377171
ashimg23377171
Inspiring
January 11, 2017
Answered

hyperlinks from MS Word not working in PDF

  • January 11, 2017
  • 17 replies
  • 372617 views

Hello

I have created a MS Word document that i have converted into a pdf.

the hyperlinks in the images link to the bookmarks against headings 1 and 2 in the following pages.

However, when i convert my MS Word document into a PDf, the images are not linked, and i don't see a hand icon when i mouse over the images.

I wld appreciate if someone can provide some insight into this.

Regards

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer MarkAH

    Hi all,

    I was having the same issue and here is what I found:

    Before attempting to convert the document from Word to PDF, look to see if it says "compatibility mode" at the top of the Word window. Mine did, even though it was already a .docx file. If it does, there will be a "convert document" option under the FILE menu (which disappears after you choose this option). Choose that. It will convert to the most recent file version. After I did that, I was able to successfully save the file as PDF with the hyperlinks active. Note also that after I did this, choosing  PDF under the SAVE AS  option caused two new options to appear where I had to choose between best for electronic distribution or best for print. You want to select "electronic distribution." If you choose "print" the links will not be active.

    17 replies

    Show previous replies
    R
    rajeshsinha11258
    New Participant
    May 12, 2020

    Apps saved longer time

    R
    riroxx26
    New Participant
    April 3, 2020

    ya...having almost same problem. My hyperlinks are working on pc, laptop and mobile in adobe. But not in normal PDF Viewer. Idont know what should I do to avail it in normal PDF Viewer. Norally when people open a file to view PDF, they select the normal PDF Viewer option and secondly how do i know if the user is having Adobe in his/her phone or not. The word doc is a book to be published where the hyperlink is added to the doc itself( in the content to the pg no. orthat page)

    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
    Brainiac
    April 3, 2020

    Quote: << But not in normal PDF Viewer. >>

     

    Please give us more information:

    What do you mean by "normal PDF Viewer"?

    What is the program's name and operating system?

     

    |&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bevi Chagnon &nbsp;&nbsp;|&nbsp;&nbsp;Designer, Trainer, &amp; Technologist for Accessible Documents ||&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;PubCom |&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Classes &amp; Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs &amp; MS Office |
    T
    tfmeier
    New Participant
    February 11, 2020

    I have a related issue.

     

    We create an "index" file in Word that holds hyperlinks to folders on the local Windows file system. The index file sits in the "root" folder together with all the folders that hold the various documents. The idea is to create a complete distribution (one zip file holding the tree structure) with index file (in PDF), folders and documents in the various folders.

     

    The distribution can then be sent, unpacked and all components accessed via the one index file.

     

    The above works well for the creator. The creator can correctly access the folders/documents via the "index" file. However when the distribution is unpacked and the index PDF is opened by a person other than the creator the links don't work. Hovering over the links in the index file shows the absolute path is stored rather than the relative path from the location of the index file and so the links break as the person will have another folder structure than the creator.

     

    Do you know of a way to make the hyperlinks relative?

      A
      Amir5C0C
      New Participant
      October 17, 2020

      worked for me, thanks for the note

      B
      BUZZ Chic
      New Participant
      November 27, 2019

      Bless you!! I sent a press release yesterday and was frustrated to learn that my hyperlinks (which I checked beforehand) were not working. This was for a very important client too. I researched it today and found several postings, several of which had complicated solutions or ones that were not options on my computer. I tried yours and success! I can not thank you enough. This will be invaluable in the future!

       

      Kathleen

        jeffreyjamessyrop
        jeffreyjamessyrop
        Known Participant
        June 17, 2018

        This isn't really the correct answer. A super important point is made in my answer of March 9, 2018, which provides a great workaround to make a hyperlinked PDF from Word WITHOUT sharing your document with Microsoft on line for conversion. (When you Save As a PDF, they give you 2 options: for print and for the Web. To make a web-ready PDF, you MUST click the box stating that you accept that your document is being converted on line. I can't believe they force you to do that for something so commonplace, especially considering all of the legal and secret business papers that are written in Word and require hyperlinks!

          jeffreyjamessyrop
          jeffreyjamessyrop
          Known Participant
          March 9, 2018

          I just found a workaround. If you save as PDF in Word, they FORCE you to allow them to process it on line. If your document is sensitive, you may not want to do that! So I saved as HTML, and then opened the HTML document in Safari on my Mac and then in the Print dialog box, I chose Save to PDF and made a nice PDF with working links. I really hate all the problems that I keep running into in Word 2016. After all this time, things like this shouldn't be happening!

            AkanchhaS8194121
            AkanchhaS8194121
            Brainiac
            May 3, 2017

            Hi Ashimg23377171,

            We apologize for the delay in response to your query.

            As mentioned, you have converted a word doc to pdf. Could you please confirm how did you convert the word to pdf?

            Did you save the word doc as "Save As" pdf or you used the "Create PDF" tool available in the tool bar?

            You may check the settings of the application as well.

            The feature can be enabled/disabled by selecting/deselecting the General > "Create links from URLs" option in the Preferences dialog. (Please note that the Preferences dialog is available in Acrobat Pro, Standard, and Reader desktop apps only.)

            Regards,

            Akanchha

            R
            RiceBallGuy
            New Participant
            May 15, 2017

            Hi Akanchha.

            I have the same issue - and have since we installed Office and Word 2016 on my Windows system.  I have Adobe Acrobat Pro XI and my TOC links (to Headings 1, 2, 3, etc.) have not worked since everything was loaded on my system.  It's been almost a year and there has been no change.  My IT staff has reloaded Office and Acrobat with no improvement.

            I checked the settings you noted in Preferences and my "Create Links from URL" box is checked.   I just unchecked it. Closed out of the program.  Came back in and rechecked it.  And there is still no change.

            I usually create a pdf by using the Acrobat tab on my toolbar and clicking Create PDF.

            When I look at Preferences (both directly in Acrobat Pro and in the Acrobat PDFMaker (in the Word toolbar), everything looks properly checked.

            This is a big issue for me and I can't seem to find anything on the web that addresses it.

            Can you help and recommend I look at something?

            Thanks in advance!

            Guy

              M
              MarkAHCorrect answer
              New Participant
              November 20, 2017

              Hi all,

              I was having the same issue and here is what I found:

              Before attempting to convert the document from Word to PDF, look to see if it says "compatibility mode" at the top of the Word window. Mine did, even though it was already a .docx file. If it does, there will be a "convert document" option under the FILE menu (which disappears after you choose this option). Choose that. It will convert to the most recent file version. After I did that, I was able to successfully save the file as PDF with the hyperlinks active. Note also that after I did this, choosing  PDF under the SAVE AS  option caused two new options to appear where I had to choose between best for electronic distribution or best for print. You want to select "electronic distribution." If you choose "print" the links will not be active.

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