Forum Discussion
Internal links broken when PDF'ing from Word
This issue began for me and several team members recently. (It then resolved itself and now is not working again.) We are using Adobe Acrobat Pro DC through Creative Cloud Online and Microsoft 365.
The issue: When creating a PDF from a Microsoft Word document, hyperlinks created in Word should be retained in the PDF'd copy. However, for us, the external links (to webpages) are retained, but the internal links (to places within the document and the Table of Contents links) are not.
The way we create PDFs is by using the Acrobat toolbar in MS Word. In the Preferences settings, "Add Links" is checked. To launch the process, we select "Create PDF" which generates the PDF.
I have tested the same file outside our work environment - on my personal computer (I also have Adobe Acrobat Pro DC through Creative Cloud online), and all the hyperlinks are retained (both internal and external). So the problem is not the Word file itself. It seems to be environmental.
Could this be a problem with the Acrobat toolbar add-in, or maybe a security problem? Any ideas are welcome. Thanks in advance.
(We often have multi-hundred documents and manually linking within the Acrobat PDF file is really not a viable option.)
24 Replies
I wrote about same problem aug. 2 2025. Hope to see a solution.
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/discussions/word/no-longer-active-links-in-pdf-exported-from-word/4439280
I am having a similar problem and I can't tell if it's the same. Here's what is happening for me on both my desktop environment (Windows 10 Home 19044.2006, Word Version 2208 Build 15601.20148 Click to Run, Acrobat Standard 2017) and my laptop environment (Windows 10 Pro 19041.1415, Word Version 2208 Build 15601.20088 Click to Run, Acrobat Standard 2017):
- I have internal hyperlinks in a Word document which when clicked take one to a different part of the document (they link to text with a Heading style).
- When I export to pdf, many (but not all) of the internal links in the Word doc break so that they no longer work in Word or in future pdfs created using Export to PDF. (I am exporting to PDF using the File \ Export, but Word is accessing my Adobe Acrobat Standard 2017 to complete this export process.)
My best guess is that something in the export process causes the internal links in the Word doc to change somehow.
Any solution to this?
The issue with links in converted PDFs should now be fixed in Word for Windows (see https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/internal-links-not-working-in-pdf/d91991c7-1f7a-4dff-bfe9-b2aa404a9c77). Install updates and restart all Office programs.
With the update in Word that was dispatched today, links embedded in images no longer export to the PDF file
Stefan_Blom Up to today, March 2022, the internal link issue has not been fixed in macOS Big Sur. Microsoft Word version 16.58.
- Any updates on this? I really need these internal links working for my documents.
- My teammate and I had a Microsoft update notification this morning. We did the update and now the TOC links and internal links are working again. I hope this works for everyone and "sticks" (as it did reverse a couple of weeks back). Crossing my fingers and thanking everyone for replying!
- Me and my team are having the same problem (internal links not working after converting a Word document into PDF), since 8th of October.
I have contacted the Adobe support and they suggested several procedures to try and fix that. These include: using the "Repair installation" tool on Acrobat, trying to revert to a previous Acrobat version by installing a patch dated 28th of July, creating the PDF files in all the possible ways (using all the different Word options, and creating them directly from Acrobat). None of this worked. They also suggested to convert the Word into PDF using their online facility (at https://documentcloud.adobe.com/ ), but this just works the very first time you upload and convert a document. From the second time you try, you'll get an error message ever after.
I have an open case with Adobe but they don't seem to be able to fix it at the moment.
We have:
Windows 10 Pro (version 21H1)
Word version 2109 Build 16.0.14430.20256
Acrobat Pro DC version 21.007.200099.61763 This is a known issue which is being investigated by Microsoft.
The issue was first reported in the Microsoft Community (see for example https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_word-msoffice_ofe-mso_opwin/word-365-save-as-pdf-does-not-convert-hyperlinks/cd27c4d8-b3be-4227-86f2-2e1db7a36caa?messageId=7bc0561d-1d72-40e7-91f4-03742fe5b4ae).
- Hi Stefan,
I just want to let you know about another problem with these links, just in case you aren't already aware of it. I have a .doc file with links to other files on my PC. These used to be relative links that were defined based on where my .doc file was located. The links now point to my user/AppData directory, as if it is expecting me to store other documents there.I recommend that you start a separate thread on this issue. Generally, though, Word isn't very good at dealing with relative links.
- Thanks Stefan!
Just commenting to say I am having the same issues, I have tried uninstalling all plugins, adobe acrobat pro, different computers, different files and reinstalling word and the best I've gotten is external links only, nothing internal.
Using Microsoft® Word for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2109 Build 16.0.14430.20256) 64-bit
