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

Showing Filter Criteria on a Printout

When you print out a filtered worksheet, you may want some sort of printed record as to what filtering was applied to the ...

Discover More

Adding Ampersands to Custom Dictionaries

It appears that Word doesn't allow you to define custom dictionary entries that include ampersands. There are ways you ...

Discover More

Calling a Subroutine from a UDF

Excel allows you to create a special type of macro called a user-defined function (UDF). These can let you add to the ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2021 or Microsoft 365. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word Step by Step today!

More WordTips (menu)

Replacing Plain Text with a Hyperlink

Active hyperlinks can be a desired feature in some types of documents. If you want to replace multiple instances of plain ...

Discover More

Specifying Your Target Monitor

When using Word to create content that will end up on the Web, it is helpful to know the probably screen resolution of ...

Discover More

Hyperlinks in Protected Documents

Need the ability to follow a hyperlink in a document you've protected? If so, you'll need to examine different ways of ...

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 8 + 3?

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.