PDF with links from a Mac won't work on a tablet.

[sianp1975]

I've created a PDF on a mac with links that navigate forward and back through the document pages. It works on all Mac devices but not on a tablet. Any suggestions???

[JoelGeraci_Datalogics]

What viewer are you using on the tablet and how exactly do the links execute the navigation?

J-

[sianp1975]

Just looking into what they're using to view it. The links are just hot spots so you can jump easily to the section you want in the document without scrolling through all of the pages.

[Test Screen Name]

How exactly (EXACTLY) do the links execute the navigation? Not what it looks like to the end user, but how the links appear in the Acrobat link editor. For instance, are they a GO TO VIEW link with a target of a page in the same document?

[sianp1975]

In short, yes I think that's whats happening. I can't see an 'Acrobat Link Editor' anywhere though? This is the example I used to do it Table of Contents in PDF - YouTube . Although I'm not using a table of contents. Each page has tabs at the top, each tab jumps to the first page of a the corresponding section.

[rsbisa · Accepted solution]

If you're sending the PDF to your tablet via email or downloading from a server to your tablet, and then opening it with Safari, IE, or other browser or default viewer, the PDF is not going to have the same functionality as you have when you are testing locally on your Mac (presumably using Acrobat). It will just be a two-dimensional, flat PDF document like you are currently experiencing. But, if when using your tablet, you are able to open the PDF with an Adobe Acrobat Reader app your nav buttons should then work.

To my knowledge, there's no way to create an interactive PDF that will have universal functionality across all the many platforms that an enduser may choose to use. You'll have to instruct them to open the doc with Acrobat or another known, compatible viewer.

[sianp1975]

Thanks, I suspect it's a browser but just trying to clarify. And you're backing up what I already suspected... thanks for confirming, although I was hoping someone had the magic pill

[sianp1975]

Yep, when they open it on their tablets it automatically opens into Microsoft Browser. Haven't been able to get them to test Acrobat yet.

[Test Screen Name]

If you follow those steps exactly you are using the Acrobat links editor (which appears in Acrobat X when you choose Add or Edit Links). If you follow those steps exactly you will be creating a Go To View link. This is the most basic, but maybe the app you use on the tablet doesn't work with links at all. What sort of tablet, and are you using the Acrobat Reader app on the tablet?

[sianp1975]

OK got it! As above, they are opening it in Microsoft Browser which probably explains it. I've asked the client to download Acrobat to test viewing that way - I don't know what tablets they're using. The odd thing is that they received a PDF from someone else using this same method (tabs), and it works fine. My only assumption there is that the sender used something other than Acrobat to create the PDF. They had also asked me to embed a video, which I managed to do and it worked fine for me, but again, not for them. Interested to see if Reader solves that too.

[Test Screen Name]

The kind of tablet matters very much. Most can't do video in PDF at all, not even with Acrobat Reader. Reader can be installed on Android and iOS but it cannot be made the default and us much more limited. Many people On Mac/Windows don't use Reader either...

[sianp1975]

Thanks. Suspected that was the case. Any idea why they might have been able to see another PDF with functionality sent from someone else? Created with a different programme?