July 2025 suddenly Hyperlinks won't export from PowerPoint using Acrobat PDFMaker - Create Adobe PDF

[Marinapomorac]

I have been using Acrobat PDFMaker  to export my PPT files to PDF because it is the only software that preserves the names of the slides as bookmarks (PowerPoint inbuild PDF tool adds text in front Slide 1: Slide 2: in front of title which I can't have).

I have latest Acrobat and Office and there was no update at all in last week.

Suddenly when I export PPT all the hyperlinks do not get exported or don't work at all. If I use anything else to export the same PPT, links work.

If I export same PPT from last week that worked 100%, now the links are no longer there.
I can't even think of what setting would cause this. 

I do not want to uninstall everything so if anyone has any other suggestions, please advice.

Thanks. 

[Randy Hagan]

If you work on a Windows system, there might be an easier way around your issue than uninstall/reinstall of Acrobat.

Windows has a built-in system restore function that lets you revert to a previous version of your system configuration. If you're fortunate, you may be able to "roll back" to a configuration of your system before you had issues and find that the problem goes away. You can learn more about Windows System Restore functions through this link.

Hope this helps,

Randy

[Marinapomorac]

Restore my entire PC to get export to PDF export hyperlinks inside PDF properly?
I checked, I do not have restore on so I do not have restore point. 

[Randy Hagan]

You described why I suggested going back to a restore point on your system:

"I can't even think of what setting would cause this."

Neither can I. But if you tell me it was working fine a week ago and it's not now, the fastest way to get things the way they were is to choose a restore point before you had the problem.

Using Windows restore points is a widely acceptable way to get your system running the way it used to before you had a problem. And I believe it still can help you. If see no restore points, be sure that the Show more restore points check box is selected. This should give you more options for getting your system running the way it was before you had your hyperlink issues.

All you have to lose is a little time.

Randy

[Marinapomorac]

Hi,
So, When I go to System restore I do not have that in bottom left Show more restore points. It is only showing me one and that is from yesterday morning. Nothing else. When I click Scan Affected Programs I get none. I deleted and reinstalled adobe DC, no change.

Still exported PDFs are completely missing hyperlinks. 

EDIT: Just tried to place all kinds of hyperlinks and if I create hyperlink on text, or website, it works, but if the shape is linking to something, like circle links to different slide, it ignores the shape completely. 

It only accepts textual hyperlinks. Super weird. 

[Marinapomorac]

Second computer, sister computer (I have two same setups, backup), also same error. I used it last week and it was fine.  

Hyperlinks to shapes/textboxes do not work and hyperlinks to text do. 

But my file is all hyperlinked with shapes. 

EDIT: It looks like Powerpoint made some changes that could affect export to PDF... will ask them as well what is happening

[Subrato Namata]

Hi @Marinapomorac while i tried the workflows that you suggested and it seemed to be working all shapes hyperlink as well. Can please you share the following,

1. Acrobat, OS and office version

2. Sample pptx file and converted pdf file

Thanks!

[Marinapomorac]

Thank you for offering to look at this matter.

I am attaching 3 files. original PPT, PDF exported with adobe and pdf exported with internal Office option. Last week both gave same working output but my problem with internal office exporter is that it adds text infront of the slide title and makes bookmark of each slide/page Slide 1: Title Slide 2: Title, while Adobe doesn't do this, it just preserves the slide title as bookmark.
For some strange reason, left  (shape) menu links in Adobe PDF are not working.

Home icon is also not working. 

The info on my system is on the last slide.

[Marinapomorac · Accepted solution]

@Subrato Namata 

Looks like a bug on Office side: https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/ms-word-image-hyperlinks-are-lost-creating-pdf/td... 

Quoted from there so people coming here know:
"Just off a support call with Microsoft and it seems a recent "Improvement" update on MS Office apps has (amongst other things) broken the hyperlink functionality on images when creating PDFs from Office applications. Non-Adobe PDF creation tools are also affected. They suggested I roll back my Office installation to an earlier version and the issue was resolved with that. They also suggested turning off auto updates for Office apps until the issue has been sorted out."

This fixed the issue:

• Open Command Prompt as Administrator

• Run these commands:

cd "%ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun"
OfficeC2RClient.exe /update user updatetoversion=16.0.18827.20164

[Subrato Namata]

Thanks @Marinapomorac , it's helpful to know.