Hyperlinks to PDF Files Won't Open

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 31, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

In Word documents you can add hyperlinks to other resources. One of the resources you can link to is a PDF file. If you click the correctly formed hyperlink, the PDF file should open in either Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat, depending on which one you have installed on your system.

However, you may run into problems, as some versions of Adobe Reader may have a glitch when working with some versions of Word. If you click the hyperlink and the PDF document quickly opens then closes, it may be a sign that there is a glitch. Upgrading to the latest version of Adobe Reader should help correct the problem. (As of this writing, the latest version is 7.0.1.) Visit the Adobe site for the latest version; it's free.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (99) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Recovering Macros and AutoText Entries from Normal.dot

Many of your custom configurations of Word—most notably macros and AutoText entries—are stored in the ...

Discover More

Determining Columns in a Range

If you need to know the number of columns in a particular range, you can use the COLUMNS worksheet function. This tip ...

Discover More

Creating Charts in VBA

Most charts you create in Excel are based on information stored in a worksheet. You can also create charts based on ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 365 applications with VBA programming. Written in clear terms and understandable language, the book includes systematic tutorials and contains both intermediate and advanced content for experienced VB developers. Designed to be comprehensive, the book addresses not just one Office application, but the entire Office suite. Check out Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 365 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Stupid Web Toolbar

If the Web toolbar pops up and drives you crazy, this tip can help. Here you learn how to turn off the pop-up nature of ...

Discover More

Controlling URL Formatting

When you type a URL into a document, Word helpfully converts it to a live hyperlink. If you don't want Word to be quite ...

Discover More

Building Your Own Web Page

Want to build a Web page using Word? Here's an overview of how it works.

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is eight minus 8?

2020-11-05 14:31:03

This PDF linked in Word prompts to update to the latest pdf viewer, and routes to the Adobe site. I checked, and he already had the latest version of Acrobat DC. We uninstalled and reinstalled from the page linked in the error message - same version, so I checked the Acrobat Help menu, and there was no newer version.

He still gets the same error message to update.

We have all his PDF defaults set to Adobe (is this wanting us to leave the one on Edge?).

Thoughts? Ideas?

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.