erratic link creation

Do you always create your PDFs using the PDFMaker macro? Or, do you sometimes use the "Create PDF" menu in Acrobat or Adobe PDF printer? Were these Word files originally created in Word 2000? Are you linking to URLs or UNC paths like c:\PDFs\Mydocument.pdf?

Thanks for your help.

I usually use the PDFMaker macro for Word.

The Word files were created using Word 2003.

Some links are absolute links to PDF files on the internet, e.g. http://www.iop.org/EJ/article/1367-2630/10/3/033034/njp8_3_033034.pdf
Some links are relative links to PDF files on my own disk, e.g.
c:\PDFs\Mydocument.pdf

The PDFMaker macro is the tool that maintains the links so if you're just printing to the PDF printer, they won't be maintained. If you use the File --> Create from PDF menu (or toolbar) make sure the checkbox to create links is turned on in the Settings menu (this is different then the PDFMaker menu). If your URLs are not linking, make sure you have the Field Codes turned off(Choose - Tools > Options > Print > and deselect the Field Codes option).Also, check to make sure the following Preference is selected: Edit --> Preferences --> General category "Create links from URLs".Can you manually add the link URLs in Acrobat using the Advanced --> Document Processing --> Create Links from URLs command?There are additional troubleshooting tips for hyperlinks under the FAQ for this forum at:
http://www.acrobatusers.com/forums/aucbb/viewtopic.php?id=1843

Thanks for your reply.

As said, I normally use PDFMaker, not File --> Create from PDF menu, or print to the PDF printer (furthermore, the latter two methods have the same problems, anyhow).All the options are selected properly as you indicate.

Yet, some (or sometimes all) links are missing in an apparently random manner. Note also that with the very same configuration, it used to work properly until recently.

In principle, I can of course create links manually in the PDF file, but
1. I have some files with numerous links, that I need to augment and update quite frequently, so that doing the job "by hand" is excluded in my case.
2. Furthermore, if I have to do the job "by hand" I don't need an expensive product such as Acrobat Pro. In fact the link production is the main feature I need from Acrobat Pro. That is why I indeed expect an expensive software to do what it is supposed to.

Thanks anyhow for your assistance.

When asking if you could manually add the links in Acrobat, I was trying to determine if the problem was the syntax of the links in Word prior to conversion. We've been seeing cases where the syntax of the links is "corrupted" and doesn't convert correctly. For example, you cannot Ctrl + click on the link in Word either.

Oh yes, I can manually add the links in Acrobat, and also, they work properly from Word using Ctrt+click.

On the links that don't convert properly, can you select them with the link tool and see their syntax?

Yes, I can select them and check their syntax in Word. The syntax is OK. But sometimes the link will be created, sometimes not. Randomly.