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Daphne5C23
Participating Frequently
October 11, 2021
Question

Links from MS Word not working

  • October 11, 2021
  • 4 replies
  • 5185 views

When creating PDFs from MS Word, it creates the bookmarks panel with links that work but it no longer creates the links on the document itself.  You cannot click on any of the headings on the table of contents page as you have no 'hand' to click with and also the URL links to bookmarks throughout the document that I have on each page do not work. Both of these things work fine in the MS Word document, but are not created in the PDF.  My preferences are set to add links (attached screenshot) but it won't create them.  I have searched all the forums and tried everything suggested but nothing seems to work.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    4 replies

    T
    Adobe Employee
    Tanvi Rastogi
    Adobe Employee
    October 13, 2021

    Thanks for your patience. We have investigated this issue and found that this has broken with a recent Office update and would require a fix from Microsoft. 

    This has also been raised on Microsoft fourms in several threads and acknowledged and it seems they are investigating this issue. Please follow these threads for updates.

     

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/cross-references-and-toc-in-word-do-not-work-when/712d50ee-e8dc-4266-9810-bb2d20dcc2c3

     

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/when-i-export-a-word-to-pdf-the-table-of-contents/66421104-a501-4b1c-851e-86cd25744e4c

     

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/exporting-hyperlinks-to-pdf-from-word/4b792dc6-b045-46f2-88c4-9d94125fbeb8

     

    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/cross-reference-links-eg-table-of-content-table-of/181567c4-6cfe-4749-923e-452c75ba0c5f

     

    As a workaround, please revert to older version of Office to make links work.

     

    Thanks

    Tanvi

    T
    Adobe Employee
    Tanvi Rastogi
    Adobe Employee
    October 12, 2021

    Thanks for reporting the issue of links not working. We can reproduce this issue with latest Office 365 version 2109 but not with Office 365 version 2108.

    We are investigating it on priority and will try to resolve this at the earliest.

     

    Meanwhile, as a workaround, please downgrade your Office version to 2108 for reverting to correct behavior.

     

    Thanks

    Tanvi

    K
    Keith_dk
    Known Participant
    October 12, 2021

    Hi Tanvi,

     

    Not sure about everyone else, but downgrading the Office version is NOT an option here. The MS versions are controlled at a corporate level. So, the quicker a solution / working work-around is found the happier I will be.

     

    I'm sure I am not alone here.

     

    br Keith

      M
      MichaelJacquin
      Participant
      October 12, 2021

      @Keith_dk : We are in the same situation in that downgrading is not an option for us too.

       

      Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
      Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
      Legend
      October 11, 2021

      @Daphne5C23 and @Amal. 

      This is a bug from the latest version of Word 365 and Adobe PDF Maker.

       

      It affects:

      • Word 365 version 2109 14430.20270
      • Adobe Acrobat 2021.007.0095 and
      • Adobe PDF Maker 21 (Library 21.7.123)

       

      See the bug log at https://acrobat.uservoice.com/forums/590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac/suggestions/44270718-errors-links-in-pdf-made-from-word

       

      And @Daphne5C23 , please up-vote this bug at that webpage in order to get it fixed by Adobe. Let others in your office know about it.

       

       

      |    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
      Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
      Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com
      Legend
      October 11, 2021

      Temporary work around:

       

      Bypass Adobe's PDF exporter and use Microsoft's internal PDF utility at...

      File / Save As / file type = PDF  (Make sure that's not Save As Adobe PDF, which has the bug).

       

      Follow the instructions, don't forget to choose the options for tagged accessible PDF.

       

      |    Bevi Chagnon   |  Designer, Trainer, & Technologist for Accessible Documents ||    PubCom |    Classes & Books for Accessible InDesign, PDFs & MS Office |
      M
      MichaelJacquin
      Participant
      October 11, 2021

      Hi Bevi,

      Thank you for your suggestion but it alas still does not resolve the issue at hand as I have always followed the same steps as those that you have mentioned (ie, in Word: File > Save As; select "PDF (*.pdf)" and ensured that I selected the create bookmarks using headings).

      There is something else going between the latest Adobe Acrobat Reader DC and Word 365 but I also suspect that the latest Windows 10 patch (ie, KB4023057) had something to do with it all.

      Cheers,

      Michael

      Amal.
      Community Manager
      Amal.Community Manager
      Community Manager
      October 11, 2021

      Hi Daphne

       

      Hope you are doing well and sorry for the trouble. As described the links from MS Word not working. 

       

      What is the workflow/steps you are doing to create the PDF from MS Word document? Please try to create the PDF from the Acrobat ribbon in the MS Word tool bar and see if that helps.

      Also go to Edit (Win), Adobe Acrobat (Mac) > Preferences > General > select, 'Create Links from URLs'

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

       

      Regards

      Amal

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