Word 2010: Save to PDF or XPS loses hyperlinks on images

[Environment: Multiple workstations with Win7 x64 Enterprise & Office Professional Plus x86 2010]

Word documents created in Word 2010 which have bookmarks and images which are hyperlinked to those bookmarks will lose those hyperlinks when the document is saved as PDF or XPS, regardless of the Options chosen in the Save process.

However, hyperlinked text to bookmarks is preserved.

The goal is to have PDF or XPS documents which have smaller images in the document which a user can then click on to see a larger version of the image located at the end of the document, so hyperlinked images are important.

This problem did not occur in Word 2007.

This site seems to indicate that it is a known problem: http://news.office-watch.com/t/n.aspx?articleid=1439&zoneid=9

 

 

July 22nd, 2010 3:06pm

I tested the process you described here and I can reproduce the issue as well.  This appears to be something that was changed in Word 2010.

We did find a way around this however, you could add a caption to the thumbnail image and then apply a hyperlink to the caption.  This worked for me in my testing.

Thanks,

Adrian

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July 23rd, 2010 2:16pm

Adrian,

 

Thanks for confirming the issue. I agree that the caption is a workaround, but its a big problem for us since all our existing documentation conforms to a standard approach using hyperlinked images. I don't think we ought to have to change our doc styles to meet Microsoft's bugs.

July 23rd, 2010 4:02pm

I did some more testing and researching and was not able to find a way to get it to work as described.  I tested with different readers, different options checked in the PDF save menu as well. 

Regarding your feedback, I have submitted this to our database to document it.

To continue the issue or find a more comparable workaround to your needs, it really falls into the paid support category which requires a more in-depth level of support. Please visit the below link to see the various paid support options that are available to better meet your needs. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?id=fh;en-us;offerprophone

Thanks,
Adrian

  • Marked as answer by Sally Tang Monday, July 26, 2010 4:30 AM
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July 23rd, 2010 11:44pm

Hi Adrian,

Thanks for submitting the bug to your database.

Just FYI, I did find another workaround, which may satisfy our needs for now.

The workaround is to:

  1. Perform a Save As of the original docx document into Word 97-2003 format.
  2. Then, Save As to either PDF or XPS format.
  3. The resulting PDF or XPS will have retained the hyperlinks.

 

  • Marked as answer by Sally Tang Tuesday, July 27, 2010 2:45 AM
July 26th, 2010 2:53pm

I ran into a similar issue with word document I created.  The workaround mentioned above didn't work for me though.  Is there a fix on the horizon?
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May 25th, 2011 10:17pm

The solution is:

Get into the option while you are saving in PDF or XPS and take the tick out from "Document structure tags for accessibility".

Done!

  • Proposed as answer by Elephanted Tuesday, January 22, 2013 8:23 PM
December 28th, 2011 12:32pm

Huh...? So a feature doesn't work as-designed and you want everyone to use "paid support"... I already "paid" for support when I purchased the product. I gotta tell ya, Adrian... I have limited time to devote to this issue--I could always use FrameMaker and create a PDF instead of using Word/XPS, but I'm trying to work with tools that a client already owns. That said, if I don't find a suitable workaound (and I've tried the one here--they suck), I'm going to whine on Twitter, Facebook, maybe fire up the old MySpace account, definitely hit MS Customer Service, and every blog until SOMEONE at Microsoft takes responsibility for this. And I say this also as a stockholder! No one is trying to do anything tricky here that should warrant 'paid support." We're just trying to use the product as intended. If the product cannot do the job, then say so up front--and don't give it partial capability. It's a bug; fit it!

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March 8th, 2012 8:05pm

"Reluctant_Programmer" wrote in message news:e0b8db1a-a5a5-4628-8bec-a60ea7c3264b@communitybridge.codeplex.com...
Huh...? So a feature doesn't work as-designed and you want everyone to use "paid support"... I already "paid" for support when I purchased the product. I gotta tell ya, Adrian... I have limited time to devote to this issue--I could always use FrameMaker and create a PDF instead of using Word/XPS, but I'm trying to work with tools that a client already owns. That said, if I don't find a suitable workaound (and I've tried the one here--they suck), I'm going to whine on Twitter, Facebook, maybe fire up the old MySpace account, definitely hit MS Customer Service, and every blog until SOMEONE at Microsoft takes responsibility for this. And I say this also as a stockholder! No one is trying to do anything tricky here that should warrant 'paid support." We're just trying to use the product as intended. If the product cannot do the job, then say so up front--and don't give it partial capability. It's a bu
March 9th, 2012 10:19am

I just ran across this bug yesterday when writing a report with many embedded images which correspond to a table of data elsewhere in the document. Until my recent forced migration to Office 2010 (mandated by the company I work for) I have been writing these reports so the user can click on the image to return to the table of data. That functionality is now broken save for the fact that I can still find machines in our labs that are running Office 2007. I am able to do the conversion there.

However I just spoke with the admin for the lab systems and they will be migrating those machines to Office 2010 over the next 2 years.

This means a feature that I used in Office 2007 that ostensibly exists in Office 2010 (but doesn't because it's broken) will be going away becuase of an "upgrade."

Your post, Stefan, comes into this discussion nearly 2 full years after the original confirmation of the problem. It is now October and this month Office 07 is transitioning from mainstream support to extended support.

Is this going to be fixed before Office 2007 becomes unavailable or do I need to get a laptop to keep in a drawer at my desk that is off-net for doing Word-PDF conversions?

Thank you for your time.

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October 16th, 2012 4:05pm

I just ran across this bug yesterday when writing a report with many embedded images which correspond to a table of data elsewhere in the document. Until my recent forced migration to Office 2010 (mandated by the company I work for) I have been writing these reports so the user can click on the image to return to the table of data. That functionality is now broken save for the fact that I can still find machines in our labs that are running Office 2007. I am able to do the conversion there.

However I just spoke with the admin for the lab systems and they will be migrating those machines to Office 2010 over the next 2 years.

This means a feature that I used in Office 2007 that ostensibly exists in Office 2010 (but doesn't because it's broken) will be going away becuase of an "upgrade."

Your post, Stefan, comes into this discussion nearly 2 full years after the original confirmation of the problem. It is now October and this month Office 07 is transitioning from mainstream support to extended support.

Is this going to be fixed before Office 2007 becomes unavailable or do I need to get a laptop to keep in a drawer at my desk that is off-net for doing Word-PDF conversions?

Thank you for your

October 16th, 2012 5:44pm

When saving as a XPS file, I have only seen problems with the links, when you are not linking to a webpage. Eg. a link to another word document.

When saving as a PDF file, I have only come across problems with links that has a space in them. 
Eg. C:\test.docx works fine but C:\test 2.docx does not.

Hope that can help

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March 21st, 2013 3:00pm

This fix worked like a charm for me in Word 2010 with Acrobat Pro 9.5. Neither "Save & Send to PDF/XPS" or printing to PDF (both under the File tab) worked. Here's what did work:

  1. In Word, click on "Save As" (also under File)
  2. Under "Save as type" choose "PDF."
  3. Click the Options tab. A new pop-up window will appear.
  4. Uncheck "Document structure tags for accessibility" and click OK.
  5. Back on the "Save As" page, click "Save."

Doing this, all my hyperlinks in the Word footer (attached to thumbnail images) worked fine in the PDF.

Thanks so much for the suggestion!

June 7th, 2013 4:30am

All my hyperlinks work fine in Word and PowerPoint, but the hyperlinks stop working when converted (Save As) to XPS.

I noticed the Word and Powerpont hyperlink C:/AT.txt changed to file:///C:/AT.txt in XPS

None of these fixes work for me. Saving as 97-2003, removing document structure tags. caption linking, etc.

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July 30th, 2013 8:23am

... Here's what did work:

  1. In Word, click on "Save As" (also under File)
  2. Under "Save as type" choose "PDF."
  3. Click the Options tab. A new pop-up window will appear.
  4. Uncheck "Document structure tags for accessibility" and click OK.
  5. Back on the "Save As" page, click "Save."

Since the checkbox to make an accessible PDF is Unchecked in this workaround, the resulting PDF is not accessible and violates the US Federal government's Section 508 legislation requiring accessible PDFs for government information. See the U.S. Access Board's website for more info about the "Sec. 508 Refresh."

Accessibility extends to local governments because Section 508 is being voluntarily adopted by state governments. The banking and healthcare industries, as well as educational institutions, are adopting Section 508, and many countries around the world are creating their own accessibility requirements.

Bottom line: UNtagged PDFs are not accessible, and inaccessible hyperlinks (or no hyperlinks) will set up the publisher for discrimination lawsuits and government fines.

Microsoft, please fix this bug ASAP.

November 15th, 2013 9:14pm

Hi

I have found a workaround for the above problem - it's a bit lengthy if you have too many image/ thumbnail links.

You'll need Foxit Advanced PDF editor.

Save the word file as a PDF and open it with the above software. Locate the images with broken URLs / links and re-link them using the hyperlink tool.

Worked like a breeze for me.

Hope this helps.

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July 25th, 2015 2:31am

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