Exporting from Illustrator

[RichardPSI]

Hey there. Some assistance please!

So I've placed URLs and email addresses in a signature bar that I've created in Illustrator CC. Saving as PDF and opening in Adobe Acrobat CC brings these links through without hyperlinking/slicing.

I want to use the bar in an email signature and a JPEG would better for this. Is there a way that the links/email addresses will still be active when either exporting from Illustrator or Acrobat?

[Doug A Roberts]

A JPEG can't contain those things on its own.

[Myra Ferguson]

You could make it a slice Slices and image maps in Illustrator

[JonathanArias]

you should be working in adobe indesign if you want a .pdf with hyperlinks in it.

[rickwtexas]

I save pdfs all day long from Illustrator with URLS that automatically work. And ZERO extra work.

[JonathanArias]

i dont' use illustrator for that kind of work. thats your choice if you do. layouts and interactive .pdf files should be made in adobe indesign. but that is my opinion and choice.

i am a firm believer that illustrator is for illustrations, photoshop is for photos, and both files formats come together in indesign to created layouts.

[Larry G. Schneider]

But it will not work if someone has changed their preferences in Acrobat. Do it properly and add the links in Acrobat.

[meganchi]

Hyperlinks can't be saved within the jpeg itself. Instead, could you save a jpeg of your signature bar and import it into your email program, and then assign a hyperlink to it and save it as an email signature?

[RichardPSI]

What I want to do is keep the links that the exported PDF has. Does exporting to GIF / PNG work rather than JPEG?

My exported PDF from Illustrator (without slices or hyperlinks) is below. It automatically picks the links up when I export from Illustrator:

[JonathanArias · Accepted solution]

none of the image formats will keep the hyperlinks they are images, pictures, flat pixels of color.

what you are doing looks like something that needs to be done via css and html, the images would be the background and the text would be set via html on top

[Monika Gause]

You can't do that with image formats. You will need HTML code for links. Learn HTML.

[Myra Ferguson]

If you make a slice, add the URL in Object > Slice > Slice Options..., and go to Export > Save for Web (Legacy), then you can click the Preview button in the lower left to get the HTML.