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Hey Guys

So in my work, I create an excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet has cells with hyperlinks in them. When clicked on, the user is taken to another cell within the spreadsheet. Sort of like an anchor.

So I was reading on the web that there are no free PDF Printers that can print from Excel to PDF and maintain hyperlink functionality. So I got Adobe Acrobat Pro 7, and when I try to create a PDF from my Excel workbook, the links still aren't activated.

At first, I tried creating a PDF from a workbook with page breaks I had set out. But Acrobat said it couldn't maintain hyperlinks if page breaks were present in the workbook, so I removed the page breaks and Acrobat is still not creating a PDF with active links.

How can I overcome this? Is there an option I should enable in Acrobat?

Thanks for any help!

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Short answer: the PDF you get depends on how the Excel file is converted. Internal "jump to cell/sheet" hyperlinks (the anchor-style links you describe) are treated differently from web URLs, so many print-to-PDF paths or Excel's built‑in export will drop those internal links even though external URLs survive. , and show useful workarounds that can succeed in some versions, but they point to the same root: not all converters create PDF internal destinations the same way. (stackoverflow.com)

What to try first (most reliable): use Acrobat's PDFMaker (the Create PDF / Acrobat ribbon add‑in) instead of printing to the Adobe PDF printer. PDFMaker runs a conversion pass and can preserve interactive elements when its "Add Links" (and related) options are enabled; printing through the PDF printer usually loses links. If your sheet uses the HYPERLINK() formula, convert those to real hyperlink objects (or ensure the target is a named range) before converting — many converters ignore the HYPERLINK formula. Test on a small sample to confirm behavior for your Office/Acrobat versions. ()

If PDFMaker still does not produce the internal jumps, the reliable fallback is to create named destinations/bookmarks and add links inside Acrobat (or use a linking plugin such as AutoBookmark for bulk work). This is extra work but gives precise control and survivable links inside the PDF. Quick checklist: enable the Acrobat add‑in in Excel, enable "Add Links" in PDFMaker settings, replace HYPERLINK formulas with real hyperlinks or named ranges, create the PDF, then fix remaining targets inside Acrobat. Note that exact behavior varies by Office and Acrobat versions, so always verify with a short test file. (blog.adobe.com)

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Member Avatar for joej

I found a way to do it if you don't mind loosing your page breaks.

1. From Excel, save the active worksheet as an HTML file, this will create a file one page long (HTML does not care about page breaks set up in Excel).

2. Using Adobe Acrobat 7 Pro, use the Web capture feature to capture the HTML file just created from Excel, the resulting PDF file will have the active hyperlinks, but the breaks may not occur where you want them.

3. You will also notice some headers and footers in the PDF, if you go back to your browser and set the page printing preferences not to include these and recapture the html file from Adobe Acrobat Pro, you should get a clean pdf file.

A bit crude, but it works....

Member Avatar for DaniWeb4Jim

Go to this:

Sounds like it can help you
DaniWeb4Jim

PS I just Googled the problem and it came up.

Member Avatar for DaniWeb4Jim

Also I tried it in EXCEL and printed it to ADOBE.PDF as my printer driver and it kept my hyperlink that you see above.
1. I opened a blank Book.xls.
2. Then I went to INSERT menu and clicked HYPERLINK added my link.
3. Using Adobe Acrobat CS3 I used the PRINT command and selected ADOBE.PDF
4. It printed a PDF with the hyperlink above and launched the file from the internet and opened the PDF.

TA DA all done.
Cheers!
Jim

Member Avatar for amironline57

hi there
at last formating c: drive an startup again

Member Avatar for Ludwig Fleck

To keep the hyperlinks that Excell contains, I did not print in PDF nor in HTML but I save the document in PDF (File > Save as > PDF).

Edited by Ludwig Fleck
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