URL in Word doesn't work in PDF

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I have a document that has a hyperlink in Word to a standard website. The link works perfectly in Word but will not work when I save as PDF or "Print to Save as PDF".

The link shows up in the PDF as a link (blue, underlined) but it's not clickable.

Any ideas how to make this work? Do I have a setting turned off somewhere?

Using Word for Mac 2011 and Preview.
 
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I'm no expert but my experience is that "print to save as PDF" is basically more or less taking a picture of the document and saving that picture as a pdf file. The hyperlinks don't get translated as hyperlinks since this is just a "print" of the document. Sort of like a screenshot of your desktop. None of the icons are clickable. My explanation may be wrong but that's been my experience after "printing" lots of documents and web pages to PDF.
 
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I'm no expert but my experience is that "print to save as PDF" is basically more or less taking a picture of the document and saving that picture as a pdf file. The hyperlinks don't get translated as hyperlinks since this is just a "print" of the document.

It depends on the PDF engine used, but generally this is not the case: hyperlinks are preserved, when Print -- Save as PDF is used:

ScreenShot2014-05-29at100349_zpsb922e0cf.png~original

This is in Preview ^^


Interactive, I am not familiar with MS Office, but I thought all office suites have a built-in PDF creator - OpenOffice and Libre Office certainly do. If the problem persists, it might be worth checking these out - great software, not to mention it's free.

There could be a couple of reasons for hyperlink not to work, as far as I can see:

  • Security settings prevent any hyperlink to function in a PDF document, so the question would be: do you have any other PDF files, with working active hyperlinks?
  • Word might have placed restrictions on Save as PDF function in the print menu. To verify this, can you try to create a PDF file from, say a webpage, like the one above?

What does the Tools | Show Inspector tells you under PDF Producer in the problem file, in Preview?

ScreenShot2014-05-29at101716_zpsa930670b.png~original


It could also be 'Acrobat PDF Maker for Word' - I've just looked through a few docs, sent by a colleague who, I know, is using Microsoft digital contraptions ;P
 
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When showing Inspector it indicates the same PDF engine you're example is showing regardless of if I "PDF" from Word or Safari. BUT, when I do it from Safari the links work, when I do it from Word, they do not.

This seems to indicate an issue with Word, but I can't find anything in the settings to turn ON or OFF.
 
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This seems to indicate an issue with Word, but I can't find anything in the settings to turn ON or OFF.

Well, Word is certainly outside my comfort zone, so I won't be able to suggest anything meaningful really, but I must say, even though I have zero trust in Microsoft's ability to create decent software, I didn't expect the Office not to have its own PDF Producer (okay, it's been well over 15 yrs, since I used MS Office, so I'm seriously out of date on this one ;D ). See, in OpenOffice all I have to do is to click on this very old-fashioned icon:

ScreenShot2014-05-29at134928_zps93992a34.png~original


and I get a perfectly formed PDF file, with reasonable control over its quality (albeit not as detailed and professional, as Acrobat Pro / Distiller), created by the OpenOffice own PDF engine:

ScreenShot2014-05-29at145642_zps5a673cec.png~original


I would seriously suggest looking at either of the office suites mentioned ... :Smirk:
 
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I don't have a button in Word, but the process is actually pretty simple and "built in". I simply choose "Save as" and change the file format to PDF. Viola I get a PDF version of the document. I can also "print to PDF" which produces the same result.

I guess MS has chosen to use Apple's built in PDF engine rather than create something new or use a 3rd party solution. What's odd is that the PDF engine passes links through properly from Safari but not from Word. Maybe this is a holdover argument between Jobs and Gates permeating my user experience?!?!
 

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