1 Correct answer
It is NOT a buggy feature. It works as intended.
I thought I explained this to you very clearly but I'll try again. I was not discussing mailto in PDF; I was discussing it in general. It would be no different if you tried to use it on a website. It is way too dependent on the user's default settings and that is something you have zero control over. It's a more than 20-year old way of sending emails and it's outlived its usefulness.
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You write that you choosed URL. Did you try to change URL to E-Mail?
it doesnt work Bob. The output PDF works for other weblinks but the dropdown "Email" option in indesign does not produce a proper email pop-up when clicked in Acrobat.
By @Trevor25571052k40w
Can you please elaborate: what kind of "pop-up" are you expecting in Acrobat, and what do you get in reality? Please include screenshots that illustrate the issue. Also, can you please clarify how numerous earlier replies contradict what you witness.
you try it. Go to indesign, make an email link and export to pdf and let me know if it works.
By @Trevor25571052k40w
I can only repeat my question:
Can you please elaborate: what kind of "pop-up" are you expecting in Acrobat, and what do you get in reality? Please include screenshots that illustrate the issue. Also, can you please clarify how numerous earlier replies contradict what you witness.
Once you provide some relevant info, your question can be addressed one way or another.
I make the link, export to pdf with hyperlinks checked on, then open the pdf and try click the link and nothing "pops-up" like when I click a web address, I get "allow acrobat to open external site" and I click yes and the website opens. there's a hand cursor when I hover the link in the pdf but it doesnt do anything when clicked.
I make the link, export to pdf with hyperlinks checked on, then open the pdf and try click the link and nothing "pops-up" like when I click a web address, I get "allow acrobat to open external site" and I click yes and the website opens. there's a hand cursor when I hover the link in the pdf but it doesnt do anything when clicked.
By @Trevor25571052k40w
Frankly, I don't know why you get an "allow acrobat to open external site" message in the first place. I assume you have some kind of corporate security software installed that prevents you from freely open websites (that's just my assumption as I'm not sure what triggers this kind of warnings.) If so, then it's possible that the same security software prevents you from using email links in PDF entirely.
no thats just a security feature in acrobat for opening weblinks embedded in the pdf. That doesnt have anything to do with the issue I am discussing, it was just an example of an interaction that happens in acrobat when the link is directing to a URL. I'm sure if you explored the issue for yourself in the software you would be able to recreate the issue instead of running me in circles.
By @Trevor25571052k40w
Oh ok now I understand why you're getting the security warning. It's an option in Preferences > Trust Manager, which I guess I disabled long time ago so I never saw this warning.
Regardless, this security option actually doesn't affect email links anyway: they open without any warning whether this option is enabled or not.
I created a PDF with an email link from InDesign and it works as expected, that is, it opens a new email in my default email client, Thunderbird.
It's possible that the email link doesn't work for you as expected due to your default settings for email (mailto) URLs (I don't know where they're controlled on Windows, I'm on Mac).
Also, as mentioned earlier in this thread, you also don't have any control over mailto: link handling on other computers. So even if you manage to make it work as desired on your machine, there's no guarantee it'll work for other people who open your PDF.
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