Hyperlinks to Text Anchors with new document name

[christina_6759]

Hello, I am working on a set of construction documents with a table that has a ton of hyperlinks set to text anchors throughout the document. 
We need to be able to create new versions of the document with the file name updated. Each time I do this, it breaks the destination link because it still points to the old document name. Is there a way to set it up differently so the hyperlink is always pointing to the current document rather than a specific file name? Or am I stuck manually changing hundreds of text anchor destinations every time we rename the file? 
Thank you!

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

A long shot - "thinking outside the box" 😉 - try exporting as IDML and edit one of the files inside? 

IDML is just a ZIPed archive full of XML files. 

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

OR - how do you create a new version? 

Copy&paste in the folder - or Save As with a new name - from within InDesign? 

[christina_6759]

I've been doing a save-as and saving with the new name. Which means then I have to go into each hyperlink and point it to the new file. Yikes!

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

I've been doing a save-as and saving with the new name. Which means then I have to go into each hyperlink and point it to the new file. Yikes!

By @christina_6759

But that should rewrite Hyperlinks? 

[christina_6759]

Unfortunately, it doesn't.

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

Unfortunately, it doesn't.

By @christina_6759

Then there is something wrong with your file?

I've just created a new, blank file from scratch:

Text Anchor:

Hyperlink:

Then, SAVE AS with a new name:

Then SAVE AS again:

Try:

1) IDMLing - export as IDML, open, save with a new name - do not overwrite your original INDD file,

or

2) create a new INDD document - with the same page size and margins - then move ALL the pages from your old / original document to the new one - with Destination = "At start of the document" - delete last, blank page.

[christina_6759]

!!! That's fascinating because that's exactly how I would've expected it to behave, but it was just hanging onto the old file name. I'll do some more testing to see what I can uncover. 

[Robert at ID-Tasker]

@christina_6759

Can you share your document - please click my nickname if you prefer to send it privately.

[Joel Cherney]

If I have my INDD file open full of hyperlinks pointing at text anchors within the same INDD, and I do a save-as with a new name, then when I am back in Edit Hyperlink, the file name is automatically updated. I tested this in the most recent update to InDesign 2025, and also in 2023 as I happened to have it open.

So either something's wrong with your install of InDesign, or there's something about how these documents or links are created that I'm not successfully recreating in my tests. To address the former, resetting your preferences is a normal first troubleshooting step for potentially damaged InDesign installations. If you think that this is more likely related to your workflow, either a more thorough description or a sample document could help us figure out why your hyperlinks don't update without user intervention. (Edit: Actually, I think that Robert's suggestion to export to IDML or move pages to a fresh document are probably a better first step.)

[christina_6759]

I really appreciate everyone taking the time to help me troubleshoot this. (and verifying how it SHOULD be working). I just did a save-as and it retained the new file name. I have no idea why it wasn't doing that yesterday, but am relieved I don't have to manually fix a million hyperlinks. Must've just been a weird glitch. Thank you again everyone!