Problems with hyphens in generated hyperlinks

[Mica M.]

I have read a few threads about this problem, but I noticed something else happened too.

I create a Word Document in Word, Office 365.

I add an integral link to a file that should be downloaded by a client or provider.
This link is written something like http://www.domainname/downloads/linked-document.pfd

I create the PDF by printing it as usual, using Adobe PDF. I never 'convert to PDF' since this can throw errors nor do I use the feature 'Microsoft Print To PDF'. I always, for years, have used Print With Adobe PDF.

The resulting PDF is opened in Acrobat DC.

The link to the downloadable PDF is not working and I get a '404' page.

After pulling out a few hairs and even testing the file on the website, I read on this forum that the fault lies in the Calibri font.

If I change the font to Arial (ugh...) and use Adobe PDF, the link works. But this does not look professional.

However, if I use BullZip printer with Calibri, the link works too.

So I dug into the link code. I found out that even though the hyphen looks perfectly normal in the browser address, the code is a different matter.

Generated with Adobe PDF

http://www.domainname/downloads/linked%E2%80%90document.pfd

Generated with BullZip

http://www.domainname/downloads/linked-document.pfd

Something goes wrong when I use Adobe PDF printer.

It looks like a very old encoding issue which used to throw errors in databases for ages, way back when. So I wonder if a similar thing is going on here.

[Test Screen Name]

Acrobat's ribbon is recommended, as PDF printer doesn't make links at all. Instead it just analyses text on the page. You have the special Unicode hyphen character on the page for some reason. See last two posts in When I print to PDF, the hyperlinks no longer work

[Mica M.]

I have seen the topic, thanks.

But my issue is that when I use a different PDF printer, like BullZip in this case, the link works just fine and the hypen is not converted at all. This is much better since I then don't have to change the font. But it is frustrating that Adobe PDF handles things differently.

Not only that, this issue could easily be exploited.