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links from Access

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2010-01-29 18:31:06
J1000
Registered: Jun 13 2008
Posts: 8

Hello,

I am trying to export a report from Access 2003 into PDF using PDFMaker. I have Adobe 8 Professional. The report has a field which is hyperlinked. So, for example, it would say "Exhibit 1" and the hyperlink goes to a website.

When I create the PDF, the hyperlinks are not carried over. The links would only work in the PDF if the clickable text was the web address itself - and, this is not even a hyperlink but just Adobe's other feature where it finds URLs and connects them to the website.

Is there a way to use javascript to make the links go from Access to PDF using the generic text as clickable (not the web address itself)? or is there any way to "fix" this using javascript after the PDF is created?

Thanks,
jen

My Product Information:
Acrobat Pro 8.0, Windows
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2010-01-31 10:11:36
#1
thomp
Expert
Registered: Feb 15 2006
Posts: 4411
I do not think so. The PDF features that are created when converting a different file type into PDF are controled by the software that does the conversion. Usually there are some conversion settings that give you some flexibility in how the conversion is done. Converting links is a common feature.
Unfortunately it doesn't look like the Access conversion does this.

You'll have to fix it up on the Acrobat side after the conversion. If the text look like a link then you can use the "doc.addWeblinks()" function from the console window or an automation script. If this is a one time thing you're better off just adding links by hand.

If this is an on going process you can write an automation script to automatically add links by identifying key works on the PDF. There's an example in the Acrobat JavaScript Reference on the "doc.addLink" function.

Thom Parker
The source for PDF Scripting Info
[url=http://www.pdfScripting.com]pdfscripting.com[/url]

The Acrobat JavaScript Reference, Use it Early and Often
[url=http://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/javascript.php]http://www.adobe.com/devnet/acrobat/javascript.php[/url]

Then most important JavaScript Development tool in Acrobat
[url=http://www.pdfscripting.com/public/34.cfm#JSIntro][b]The Console Window (Video tutorial)[/b][/url]
[url=http://www.acrobatusers.com/tutorials/2006/javascript_console][b]The Console Window(article)[/b][/url]

Thom Parker
The source for PDF Scripting Info
www.pdfscripting.com
Very Important - How to Debug Your Script

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2010-02-01 11:20:47
#2
J1000
Registered: Jun 13 2008
Posts: 8
Thanks for your reply. It's not a one-time thing, it will be done on a weekly basis with hundreds of links in multiple reports. I don't think doing it by hand is feasible, yet the scripting may not work either because the websites are so random that you may as well do it by hand. I'm at a loss... I sure hope Adobe will fix this in the next PDFMaker, it seems like a feature that should be there. I understand it is there for Word, etc, but not for Access. I also tried exporting to Word/Excel first, then to PDF, but there are other problems/limitations doing it that way.

Thanks,
Jen
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