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jeffp54538785
jeffp54538785
Participant
May 1, 2018
Answered

Can't set up hyperlinks

  • May 1, 2018
  • 1 reply
  • 3039 views

I am using InDesign CC 2018 on a machine running Windows 7. I want to set up a large document (to be turned into a pdf later) that will have multiple hotlinks on each page, to allow users to jump quickly to section contents pages and then to individual pages. I have made multiple attempts to set up a hotlink, being careful every time to follow the instructions in the online help document precisely. I have tried setting up hotlinks with the source on a Master page; I have tried setting up hotlinks with the source on a document page; I have tried setting up hotlinks whose sources are strings of text, and others whose sources are text boxes; I have tried setting up hotlinks with and without destinations; and I have tried saving test documents as InDesign files and as pdf files (with interactive content switched 'on'). Nothing I have done has resulted in a single instance of a working hotlink. Can anyone tell me what on earth is going wrong?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer jeffp54538785

    One other thought. When you highlighted text did you do it with the text tool or did you select the text frame with an arrow tool? The underline under  hyperlinked text only happens when the text has been selected with the text tool while it is being made into a hyperlink.

    If you still can't make it work when you get back to experimenting with this, please post relevant screen shots so that either myself, or whomever sees them first, can provide a clue as to how to help you.


    Bill, I have discovered the problem. When exporting the pdf, there is a pulldown option at the bottom of the window labelled "Interactive elements". In your screenshot in your first response, it is showing "Do not include", and I don't recall any instruction in the online guides to change that. The only other option offered by the pulldown is "Include appearance", which seems strange to me considering its apparent function, but selecting that option when saving the pdf makes the hotlinks active. (A user such as me would have ticked one of the boxes immediately above, such as "Hyperlinks", so you would assume that you would not need to give the same instruction twice.) I've now tested a pdf made with a text-string as the hyperlink source, and another using a text box as the source, and both worked. So, success at last. I hope this means that the entire document will work as hoped, when I finish creating it.

    Many thanks for your patient instruction.

    1 reply

    Bill Silbert
    Community Expert
    Bill SilbertCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 1, 2018

    When you export to pdf do you have "Hyperlinks" checked in the General section of the Export Adobe Pdf dialog window? See screen shot:

    Bill Silbert
    Community Expert
    Bill SilbertCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 1, 2018

    One other thing are you exporting as an interactive pdf or as a print pdf? The interactivity in Interactive pdfs are not recognized in many pdf readers so I would recommend exporting to a print pdf as in my first post.

    Bill Silbert
    Community Expert
    Bill SilbertCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    May 1, 2018

    In rereading your original post it sounds like you’re expecting the interactivity to work in the InDesign file. It doesn’t work like that. The interactivity is seen in the form that you export to such as a pdf or Publish Online.

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