ERRORS: Links in PDF made from Word

Internal hyperlinks, cross-reference hyperlinks, and TOC hyperlinks made in the latest version of MS Word 365 are not retained by PDF Maker.

Affects: Word 365 version 2109 14430.20270
Adobe Acrobat 2021.007.0095 and
Adobe PDF Maker 21 (Library 21.7.123)

These errors are in addition to others listed for PDF Mader at https://acrobat.uservoice.com/forums/590923-acrobat-for-windows-and-mac/suggestions/44183082-accessibility-errors-with-pdf-maker-update-sept-20

Hyperlinks from Word are non-functional when exported to PDF via PDF Maker. Affects both traditional hyperlinks and accessible hyperlinks:

— Traditional internal hyperlinks are not clickable.
— Accessible internal hyperlinks are missing the <Link> / <Link-OBJR> compound tag that provides an accessible hyperlink.

— TOC hyperlinks are not clickable nor accessible.

— External hyperlinks appear to functional correctly, as well as accessible external hyperlinks.

Sample Word 365 and PDF files are attached for diagnostic purposes.
Screen captures are also attached.

Summary:

This level of bug not only makes an inaccessible PDF, it prevents the PDF from being used by anyone, with or without an assistive technology.

Please fast-track this and other others and provide a hot-fix for PDF Maker that addresses this bug and the others immediately. Q1-2022 is not fast enough.

14 votes

Bevi Chagnon | PubCom.com shared this idea · Oct 11, 2021 · Report… · Admin →

Resolved ·

AdminTanvi Rastogi (Lead Software Engineer, Adobe) responded · Oct 12, 2021

Thanks for your patience. We have investigated this issue and found that this has broken with a recent Office update and would require a fix from Microsoft.

This has also been raised on Microsoft fourms in several threads and acknowledged and it seems they are investigating this issue. Please follow these threads for updates.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/cross-references-and-toc-in-word-do-not-work-when/712d50ee-e8dc-4266-9810-bb2d20dcc2c3

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/when-i-export-a-word-to-pdf-the-table-of-contents/66421104-a501-4b1c-851e-86cd25744e4c

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/exporting-hyperlinks-to-pdf-from-word/4b792dc6-b045-46f2-88c4-9d94125fbeb8

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/cross-reference-links-eg-table-of-content-table-of/181567c4-6cfe-4749-923e-452c75ba0c5f

As a workaround, please revert to older version of Office to make links work.

Thanks

Tanvi

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