Links don't work anymore in any PDF files

[HaroldRoss]

Hello team,

I opening this case on behalf of a customer.
After migrating to Office 365, I noticed that links for any PDF files are simply useless and nothing happens when clicking on any of them.
These links (not created with PDF-XChange Editor) used to work before migrating to Office365 but I'm not sure if this is related or not.
Links are working just fine when opening the file with Acrobat Adobe Reader 2017.
Current version is PD-XChange Editor Plus Version 7.0 (Build 325.1) and I obviously tried to uninstall and reinstall several times.
Any idea of what is happening and how to fix this?

Thanks and have a good day

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

Hello HaroldRoss,

It is odd that the documents would be affected by this sort of an update, As such I have a few questions.

1. I would like to know if you have tried the latest build of the PDF-XChange Editor Build 326.1?
If not, please try updating and see if this resolves the issue.

2. Are old documents affected by this update, or only newly created ones?
If only new documents are affected, this is very likely a change in how office handles links, and should be configurable.
Please also attach a sample document from before and after the update if at all possible, this will help us to identify the cause of the issue.

3. Have you checked to see if there are any settings in the Office 365 "Export to PDF" function to change how links are handled.
Typically these are offered either in the office file > options menu, or within the file > export dialog itself.

4. Have you considered using our Office plugin to convert the document instead, It is included with the Standard printer and PDF-XChange PRO installations.
The Office addin also offers greater control over nearly every aspect of the conversion process, so it may be a useful tool if you have not considered it yet.

Hope to hear back soon!

[Willy Van Nuffel]

1) Maybe it goes about literal hyperlinks, like https://www.pdf-xchange.com ?
In that case, the check-box at "Create links from URLs in page text" must be ON,
via Edit > Preferences > Page Text.

2) In case it goes about opening other documents via hyperlinks, then it might be one of the Security Options that is preventing this,
via Edit > Preferences > Security.

Regards.

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

Thanks for the assist willy!

[HaroldRoss]

Thanks for your replies.

@Willy, I already looked into Edit > Preferences > Page Text and "Create links from URLs in page text" was already checked. I didn't find anything specific under the Security section either, but I'll check again.

@Dan This is affecting any pdf files, and as far as I know my customer is not creating any new files, just editing old ones on a regular basis.
As for the links I was talking about, these are links found in the summary (or table of contents) at the beginning of a file. Clicking on them would bring you further down the document but this no longer works.

I'm not really sure if this is related to Office365 at all, my customer stated that the issue began after migrating to Office 365.
I'll check the newest update as you suggested, where can I find the plugin you were talking about?

Thanks!

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

Hello HaroldRoss,
Thanks for getting back to us.

This is affecting any pdf files, and as far as I know my customer is not creating any new files, just editing old ones on a regular basis.

In this case, please make sure that you are testing the latest build of the Editor. You can download the latest version of the respective products from their product pages, here: https://www.pdf-xchange.com/product/downloads

Where can I find the plugin you were talking about?

If you already have the Standard Printer installed (included with PRO), you should see the addin within Microsoft office as another tab appended to the end of the row.
If that does note appear, either your office installation has disabled the addin, or you do not have Standard installed.
You can download standard or PDF-XChange PRO from the link above.
If you have Standard installed and do not see the addin, please follow the instructions in this article to restore the addin toolbar:
https://www.pdf-xchange.com/knowle ... ot-showing

[HaroldRoss]

I am the customer that the gentleman is writing about. Here are some facts that will help.

Before downloading Office 365 PDF-XChange Editor worked fine. That may have nothing to do with the problem, and may be just a coincidence, but it is a fact.

I had PDF - XChange Editor Pro V6. When my bookmarks/links stopped working our IT folks just downloaded PDF -XChange Editor V7.0.325.1 to my laptop. The new software did not solve the problem.

Here is the problem, I cannot open bookmarks, links, or "sticky note" comments. All I get is the "Hand" for grabbing the page. This is true of any new files or old files. I do not think it is a print problem as I can open the links, bookmarks, etc. with Adobe Reader, even the new ones I print with PDF-XChange can be opened in Adobe Reader, but not in PDF XChange. So the links are fine, and they work, the problem is PDF-XChange Pro is not opening these items (There may be other functional problems I am not yet aware of, just because I have not tried to use them yet).

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

Hello,

Thank you for coming back to us.
In this case, I believe you are correct about office 365 being a coincidence considering how you are describing the issue.

** Edit, Important note: I have just realized, it is possible you have accidentally toggled Exclusive mode within the Editor, This can be toggled on and off by selecting the Typewriter tool and navigating to the Format tab, then de-selecting the Exclusive mode option:

It is very odd that the software would maintain this issue across multiple version and an update, however I have a set of instructions for you to try, these will fully remove the Editor and all registry entries tied to it and then reinstall it as a fresh program. Note that the installer provided below will install the latest version 7 release of the software, note your current build 325.1

This method has a few extra steps beyond uninstalling, so please follow them closely, and be sure to Restart the computer at every point it is detailed, this is crucial to the process working.

1. Please go to: Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features in your system and uninstall everything that is published by Tracker Software Products
2. Once this is complete, please restart your computer.
3. Once restarted, please go to regedit.exe built into every windows computer. Find it by typing "regedit.exe" in search bar of your start menu.
4. Please delete the following registry entries. Only the "Tracker Software" folder and all its sub-folders. **Be extremely careful as a mistake could render your computer useless**
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Tracker Software
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Tracker Software
5. You can now close Regedit.
6. Please make sure there are no Tracker Software folders here: C:\Program Files.
7. If so, please delete it.
8. Restart your computer.
9. Now install the software:

1. Please run the appropriate installer:
Editor or Editor plus users: https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PDFXVE7.zip
PDF-XChange PRO users: https://www.pdf-xchange.com/PDFXPro7.zip

2. When asked by the installer, please choose PRO version, then, copy/paste your serial key into the field provided. Be sure to use CTRL+V to paste the key
3. Now complete the installation and restart your PC.

After that, please double check the setting that willy mentioned above and let us know if the software works once again.