Disable hyperlinks from being clickable in generated PDF

[anamikas367603]

We have a FrameMaker 9 document that contains certain hyperlinks. All of these hyperlinks are dummy. However, when I generate the PDF, and click those links they open in the browser (though the page does not display since the URLs are dummy).

I want the URLs to appear as normal text and not as a hyperlink (even though that's dummy!)

Any help anyone...

Regards,

Anamika

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

How are they set up in the FM source content?

[anamikas367603]

We simply entered some dummy links into the document. They are not set as hypertext in FrameMaker.

However, when I create the PDF, those links are being resolved as hypertext.

I believe I would have to either review the PDF generation settings or the Acrobat settings after PDF generation.

However, if anything comes across your mind, do post an update.

Much thanks!!!!

Anamika

[Mike Wickham]

If you haven't set the text up as hyperlinks in FrameMaker, it is likely

that Acrobat is turning it into links. In Acrobat, check your setting at

Edit> Preferences> General> Create links from URLs.

[Arnis Gubins]

As Mike suggests, this is a "feature" of Acrobat that is controlled by each individual Acrobat/Reader's internal settings. It's something to be aware of when distributing PDF documents and you don't want active links.

[Bob_Niland]

re: Edit> Preferences> General> Create links from URLs.

There's also a Distiller job option to disable multimedia content. It will also disable all such links, but also disable usually-desired hypertext as well (such as TOC and IX links).

[Arnis Gubins]

Bob,

AFAIK, there is no such option in the Distiller joboptions files. Can you please indicate the specific option and in which group (General, Images, Fonts, Color, Advanced, Standard) this option can be found?

The Acrobat preferences setting tells Acrobat to not read the contents of the PDF file looking for url-like content to turn into links (it doesn't work very well anyway if the url splits across a line-break), so it wouldn't matter what you tell Distiller to do. If the text string that looks like an url is in the PDF content and this option is enabled, Acrobat will turn it into a link.

[Bob_Niland]

re: ... there is no such option in the Distiller joboptions files.

Arnis, you are probably correct. I was relating that from memory from FM9 & 12 at the shop from which I recently retired. I'm still on FM7/Acro5 at home, and it doesn't have the option.

I'm thinking that what I recalled was actually an Acrobat Pro optimize option. We used Acro to post-process FM7 PDFs to remove metadata, and I know I got bit a couple of times by setting the MM delete option when configuring a new employee PC, and having hypertext get deleted. Problem is, it deletes ALL of it, and not just URL markers and embedded MM content.

[Arnis Gubins]

Ah yes... the Optimize settings have the options to discard objects and user data, which will wipe the file clean, as you've experienced. However, that still won't affect how the "Create links from URL's" behaves. If it is enabled, then Acrobat dynamically generates the links for each session when the file is opened.

[anamikas367603]

So that means every time that a user opens the PDF she has to specify that links should not be created from URLs and this setting won persist if she happens to close the PDF and open it again?

And that in a nutshell implies that this is something that the end-user has got to do. We can't control how the dummy hypertext appears or behaves.

[Arnis Gubins]

NO, it means that it is up to the user whether or not to specify that their installation of Acrobat or Reader should try to interpret strings that look like URLs to behave as links. The Preference setting in Acrobat permanently turns this feature on or off until it is changed again by the user.

If you wish to have dummy hypertext links that look like URLs and never be active, then you could create images of the text at the correct size and insert these in FM using an Anchored Frame. Alternatively, you could play around with using thin-spaces (or somee other discrete separator) in the URL strings to space things out so that Acrobat can't readily identify the string as an URL.

[Bob_Niland]

re: ... you could create images of the text at the correct size and insert these in FM using an Anchored Frame ...

And that defense will only work until shortly after Acrobat Reader is routinely doing the OCR that today you need Acrobat Pro or Std to do. And OCR might come to 3rd party PDF readers before it comes to Acrobat Reader. If it looks like text, expect the futureweb to treat it like text, and if the text looks like a URL expect the futureweb to treat it as such, if not serve up related ads.