Forum Discussion
Table of contents links not working when save as PDF
Hi all,
On my system, TOC and Cross-reference links are working in MS Word. But, when the same document is save as PDF, these links are not clickable. Suddenly, these links have stopped working in this week.
When you use the word online editor and use save as pdf if it works,
Best Regards,
Update: There is Workaround. Thanks to the people of the adobe forum https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/toc-and-cross-reference-links-are-not-working-in-pdf-converted-using-ms-word/m-p/12438864. I reverted the latest update office 365 (Version 2109 (build 14430.20234)) and installed Version 2108 (build 14326.20348) and it works.
38 Replies
MarioBriz Posting in case anyone still has this problem. I have not found a solution to this issue for Word, but it seems that if you have a .docx file available with working hyperlinks in Word, the Adobe Acrobat app's built-in convert to PDF feature will create the PDF correctly from the .docx file even if Word's PDF conversion feature is failing.
jmfrank3Have to say, having used Word from Word II for the Mac days, I've now mostly moved over to Apple Pages. PDF generation is far faster and better quality. In most ways, I prefer it.
But I know it isn't an option for everyone.
- I am using Word on Windows, version Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2019.
I have to be able to print several different versions of this document, with different sections selected, such as "S1,S4-S10" and "S1,S11-S20" etc. So saving as PDF won't work, since I cannot selectively save sections. Only a custom print, to a PDF printer will work.
None of the TOC or intradocument links work when printing to the printer "Microsoft Print To PDF".
This is a very, very big problem for me. Any help very gratefully received.Use Export -> Create PDF/XPS and choose the Standard (Publishing online and printing) option.
The Print to PDF approach tends to include only what is necessary for printing - not document structure information.
See how it goes.
Clouded_Agaricthanks. However I found there are a couple issues with this approach.
1. After you set "Save as type" to PDF, then an "Options" button appears on the Save As dialogue, and from there you can select a page range, start to end. However, you can't enter a selection of pages, such as using section identifiers, as in "S1,S10-S20", which you can from a print dialogue.
2. The image quality is poor. Of course I selected the option to optimize for "Standard (publishing online and printing)", however the image quality degrades significantly. This document has a lot of images designed to be zoomed in for more detail, and they are much more fuzzy. The advantage of printing to the printer "Microsoft Print To PDF" is that image quality is retained, without any degradation. That is probably also why in my tests those PDF's are much larger.
- Yep, just downloaded an update today (16.56.21111003) - and the issue still not fixed for Mac OS. Must be the fifth update since this was an issue where it still hasn't fixed the problem!
Yes - I was hopeful of a recent update. I think I'll try other approaches, such as LibreOffice or even Pages!
- Pages and LibreOffice both affect the rest of the document too much to be usable.
The clickable links work when the PDF is produced under Windows, but there are a few subtle differences which together with the nuisance factor make it unacceptable.
- The issue still exists in the latest version of Word (v16.54 build 21101001) for Mac.
- Yep, I can confirm it's still not working on MacOS
- I agree - and that is my main issue.
Has anyone identified a workaround other than doing something to regress?
The workaround worked for me, I used this as the Config.xml file:
<Configuration>
<Updates Enabled="TRUE" TargetVersion="16.0.14326.20404" />
</Configuration>My problem was all hyperlinks stopped working, and rolling back the version restored correct behaviour.
- Build 14430.20234 from the Sept 28 Current Channel included this "fix" for Word:
"In certain customer configurations, it was discovered that document exports to PDF or XPS formats from Office would fail due to recent updates. This update fixed these regressions and reenabled export to these formats."
Possibly this is the culprit.
Switching to the Semi Annual Enterprise channel and build 13801.21004 does not exhibit the problem and gets the latest security fixes.- Now seems to be resolved in the latest Current channel release build 14430.20306
Switching to the Semi Annual Enterprise Channel and using the latest build 13801.21004 (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/officeupdates/semi-annual-enterprise-channel)
I suspect the problem crept in the Current Channel September 28 release (14430.20234), which has this in the release notes:
- In certain customer configurations, it was discovered that document exports to PDF or XPS formats from Office would fail due to recent updates. This update fixed these regressions and reenabled export to these formats.
Moving to the semi annual channel means you don't get all the bells and whistles, but at least you get security updates and don't have to downgrade to a potentially vulnerable Office version.
HI,
Same here, been working with it for 2 years, using save export in VB with oDoc.ExportAsFixedFormat.
Now not working anymore on 3 PC (maybe new office version)
Also does not work when I manually start it and try save or export with all different types of options.
When I use Word online, it does create the TOC hyperlinks, and the bookmarks from the headings back to TOC, after one or two clicks they also stop workingWhen uploading my full 135 page, 44 mB doc and save as PDF, it writes creating, but does not offer me a download for the PDF.
I am currently stuck with no possibility to create the Hyperlinks in PDF
PLEASE HELP
please help- I have the same problem. Used to work ok, but stopped at some stage recently.
- I have a Surface Pro running Insider for Office, and saving as PDF worked with creating the links.
PC with problem: Version 2109 Build 16.0.14430.20154) 32-bit
Surface that works: Version 2110 Build 16.0.14527.20008) 32-bit
Perhaps will get fixed in an upcoming update?
