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Hyperlink in PDF not working in Dropbox

Hi - I have imported a pdf into my Dropbox that has a hyperlink to a url (the hyperlink is attached to a logo within the pdf). The hyperlink was working fine prior to importing to Dropbox but once in Dropbox, the hyperlink is not available to click on at all. Does anyone know why this would be happening or if there is a work-around?

Many thanks....

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Hannah

Hey @marnimoo, welcome to our Community and happy Friday!

Did you import this file directly from another website/service?

When you download the PDF to your computer from that website, does the hyperlink work?

And what do you see if you upload the downloaded version to Dropbox, instead of importing it?

Keep me posted!

marnimoo

Hi, Hannah.

Thanks for the reply!

So, to answer your questions, I'm not sure which program was used to create the pdf (It's a flyer). It was sent to me as a pdf with the hyperlink already created. But I also opened it in Adobe and the link was visible in Adobe Acrobat on my computer.

If I download the pdf from the Dropbox link I created to my computer, then the link works. If I upload that same document into Dropbox, the link is not available when I view it in Dropbox. It seems like the link is only present when the pdf is downloaded back to the computer.

Let me know if you need more info. I really appreciate your help.

Rich

@marnimoo wrote:
If I upload that same document into Dropbox, the link is not available when I view it in Dropbox. It seems like the link is only present when the pdf is downloaded back to the computer.

If I had to guess, I'd say this is a result of Dropbox displaying a preview of the original file, when viewed online, instead of the original. Most items that you view through the Dropbox website are shown as a preview of the original. I'd assume that it's this transcoding that makes the links stop working.

marnimoo

Hi, Rich.

Thanks for your advice. So I'm guessing what you're saying is that all files are shown as previews in Dropbox? I guess there would not be any way around this?

LaurieD

Just commiserating...I'm having the same issue. Links don't work when I download the file either, even though they did work on the original pdf I uploaded. Not finding much help...

Mark

@LaurieD wrote:
Just commiserating...I'm having the same issue. Links don't work when I download the file either, even though they did work on the original pdf I uploaded. Not finding much help...

If they dont work when you've downloaded make sure you have not used Rational Links - as they will be based upon the machine they were created for only.

kschil

Hello,

I am running into this same issue with DropBox PDFs. Can you explain what Rational Links are please?

Thanks!

Jay

Hi @kschil, I believe they're referring to relative or absolute links. A relative link refer to a local link to a file or computer, and doesn't show the full directory. If the file is moved the link won't work.

An absolute link contains the full URL to a file, and should work if the URL is a shared link available for anyone to access. For instance, this article describes how it works in an Excel sheet.