Hyperlinks in MS Word 365 DO NOT Work in PDF

[Walter_H]

Hello!

I have saved an MS Word document as an Adobe PDF but the Hyperlinks from the Word doc DO NOT work in the PDF. The Hyperlinks DO work correctly in Word. I've tried Print to PDF and the links do not work either. I've also opened an older PDF that had numerous web and document links and those link are not working either.

These are my program specs:

• Windows 10 Pro v21H1
• Word for Microsoft 365 (latest version)
• Acrobat Pro DC v2021.007.20091

Is this a bug, or have I got something in my preferences set wrong?

[Amal.]

Hi Walter_H

Hope you are doing well and sorry for the trouble. As described the hyperlinks in the PDF file is not working . Also, you have tried to print to PDF and still no luck.

Please try to create the PDF form the Acrobat ribbon present in MS Word toolbar and in the preferences check the option 'Add links' and see if that works for you.

Also, go to Acrobat DC preferences, Open Acrobat > Edit >  Preferences > General > Select 'create links from URLs' > Click OK and reboot the application and see if that helps.

You may also check out the help page https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/allow-or-block-links-internet.html

Hope this information will help

Regards

Amal

[Walter_H]

Hi Amal,

My PDF Preferences in Word were already set correctly as you described. I just opened a PDF that I created in Word about a month ago. The embedded links in that PDF work fine! I now think the problem is with Word.

I just checked the Programs and Features applet in the Windows Control Panel and I see that my Microsoft 365 was updated on 9/17/2021 (v16.0.14326.20404). I guess that I need to contact Microsoft about this problem.

Thanks for your help!

[Ken Jones NOVA]

Hi Walter, any luck? We have the same issue at my organization

[Dave__M]

Walter,

What might be happening is that you ar setting your Acrobat conversion settings properly, but are creating the PDF using Word's Save as PDF feature.  Try creating the PDF by clicking on the Create PDF button on  your Acrobat ribbon in Word (if this is the case).

Done this way, with the proper settings, your hyperlinks should be active in the resultant PDF.

My best,

Dave

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

It's now been diagnosed as a Microsoft bug from the most recent update of MS Office.

See the Microsoft answer forum at https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/cross-references-and-toc-in-word-do-not-work-...

Nothing we can do on our end, unfortunately, other than try to downgrade your version of Office.

And nothing Adobe can control or fix.

See Adobe's post at https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/interactive-clickable-table-of-contents-not-the-b...

[Dave__M]

Yikes!!!

Thanks, Bevi

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

@Dave__M  you might want to subscribe to Microsoft's "Insider" program which is their informal beta testing program. You'll get a beta of the fix before it's released to the general public. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/join-the-office-insider-program-3c7dda4f-4d05-0783-3a9a-18...

But please note that all beta software is just what it is...beta and often not ready for prime time. Therefore, use at your own  risk.

We beta test for many companies (Adobe, Microsoft) and our shop policy is to make a copy of any file we want to open in a beta. You never know what the beta will do to them!

[Jessica New Mexico]

I was having the same issue with TOC links not working in Adobe.

I uploaded the Word file to my Sharepoint online, then saved as a PDF and the TOC links work!