Word update has broken relative links in export

[mggmuk]

Since yesterday (14th Nov 2023), exporting to a pdf has broken hyperlinks to files. This functionality is crucial for us to deliver reports that contain links to supplemental documents - png, csv etc. Not sure if there is anything I need to do to preserve relative links? Something new in the mass of config options?

Absolute links work fine, but no good for sharing docs with clients? Has anyone else noticed this? 

[#2]

@mggmuk 

I am not experiencing this in Word for Windows (365) Version 2310.

I use Save As and pick pdf or Adobe PDF (requires Acrobat). Also, if I print to the Print to Microsoft PDF driver, the hyperlinks are fine.

I do not know of anything new.

You may need to look at Paul Edstein's Word Fields and Relative Paths to External Files for assistance.

Which version of Word, which operating system?

Have you tried SaveAs or Print?

Since these are not internal links but external, are you saving the pdf in the same folder as the original Word document?

[#3]

Thanks for the reply @Charles_Kenyon ,
I am using MS365 with version 2310 Build 16.0.16924 so looks same as yours. This was all working fine prior to the MS update on the 14th Nov.

I have since found a workaround - the online version of Word within Teams works fine. It creates a pdf that you need to download. In this pdf, all my links are relative so I can move the doc to any filesystem (together with the supplemental files) and all is well. So I'm good for the moment (until MS decide to upgrade the online version :) )

Incidentally, I have never been able to get links to work by using the print to MS PDF driver. They just appear as dead links in the pdf!