Fix MS Word 2010 to PDF Link Problem

Simple way to fix broken links in PDF after converted from Word 2007 or 2010

I’ve lived with this bug for quite a while, just now decided to write a short post about fixing the broken links and broken text problem after converting MS Word 2010 document to PDF. If you don’t experience this issue, then lucky you, if you’ve been noticing the issue, then read on as the fix is very simple. By the way, there’re all sorts of issues with Office 2010, another one is the printing issue with PowerPoint 2010.

The broken link issue

Apparently there is a bug or conflict between Office 2010 (and possibly 2007) and Adobe Acrobat Pro that creates this problem: if you print your Word doc into PDF or use the PDF icon on your MS Word toolbar to create PDF file, you’d likely see that most of your links are no longer working; only the email links (like name@website.com) and the URL links (like http://www.website.com) work, all other hyperlinks that you’ve used Insert Hyperlinks to add in (like Click here, or Learn more etc.) seem to disappear although they are still blue in color.

The broken text issues

Even worse, if you try dragging your mouse to select some text on the PDF, you’d notice the text seem to clump together which makes the selection impossible.

The easy fix

Instead of printing your Word document to PDF or using the PDF icon on the MS Word toolbar, try to SAVE your Word doc AS a .PDF file by going to MS Word menu File > Save As…, then select PDF from the drop-down menu. You’ll see right away all hyperlinks remain and work.

If for some reason, .PDF doesn’t exist in the drop-down list, you can go to the Microsoft website to download the “Microsoft Office Add-In: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS.” You can also search for it and check to see if they have any update because the link posted here is for Office 2007. I guess it can also be used for Office 2010.

Again, hope this helps!

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• MS Office 2010 Menu/Ribbon Reference