Internal links broken when PDF'ing from Word

Microsoft

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.)

21 Replies

@EGTucker We have the same problem. External links in WORDdocument working well in PDF, but internal links don't. We tried a lot, also installing a new Adobe version. Still not working. If you find a solution, please let me know.

Office 2016 and 2019 and Adobe Acrobat XI and DC
I am having the same problem, and it just started today (October 8). I am editing a .docx file and saving it as a pdf. Two days ago, all hyperlinks were working on the pdf file. Today, external hyperlinks are working, but internal links (to other parts of the same pdf file) are not working. Looks to me like something broke on the latest Word 365 update.

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

@shaylab Samen here!  

@EGTucker 

 

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-sav...).

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
Thanks Stefan!
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!

Unfortunately still not working for me @EGTucker 

 

Now on Microsoft® Word for Microsoft 365 MSO (Version 2109 Build 16.0.14430.20292) 64-bit

I had also an small update, but is doesn't help.
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.
Perhaps the update was unrelated (?). Sorry, this is a mystery.

@TASchreyer 

 

I recommend that you  start a separate thread on this issue. Generally, though, Word isn't very good at dealing with relative links.

@EGTucker 

 

The bug with hyperlinks in converted PDFs is not fixed yet, as far as I can tell.

 

A recent update did fix another issue: printing custom page ranges in Word. 

Sorry Stefan, my mistake. I assumed, incorrectly, that your earlier reply came from Microsoft.
Any updates on this? I really need these internal links working for my documents.

@EGTucker Any updates? Has Windows solved the issue? At the moment, the only workaround seems to be to use online PDF converter tools, but that's not safe...

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/d91991c7-1f...). Install updates and restart all Office programs.