Hyperlinks in PDF Do Not Work After Exporting From Word
Links in a Word document that become dead links in the exported PDF are caused by the wrong PDF export method. Here's how to export Word documents to PDF with working hyperlinks.
Hyperlinks in a Word document that become unclickable, grey-colored, or visually present but non-functional after export to PDF are broken by using the wrong export method. Printing to PDF (via a PDF printer driver) destroys links; saving as PDF via File → Save As preserves them — if configured correctly.
The Right Way: File → Save As → PDF
In Word: File → Save As → change file type to "PDF" → click Save (or "Export"). Do NOT use File → Print → PDF printer — this method renders the document visually and produces a PDF with no interactive elements (links, bookmarks, or form fields). The Save As method goes through Word's PDF export engine which preserves hyperlinks as clickable annotations. In the Save As dialog, click "More options" or "Options" to verify: "Document structure tags for accessibility" should be checked, which also enables link preservation.
Check the Word Hyperlink Format
Word hyperlinks must be properly formatted (inserted via Insert → Link, not just typed URL text) to export as clickable PDF links. Typed URLs that Word auto-formats as hyperlinks (blue, underlined) do export as links. However, if the hyperlink display text differs from the URL and the link was inserted manually, verify it is a proper hyperlink field: right-click → "Edit Hyperlink" — if this option appears, it is a proper hyperlink and will export correctly. If the option is absent, the text is just formatted to look like a link but is not an actual hyperlink field.
Table of Contents Links
Word's automatically-generated Table of Contents uses internal hyperlinks (linking to heading locations within the document). These export as internal PDF links when using File → Save As → PDF. If TOC links are not working in the exported PDF, check: (1) The TOC was generated by Word (Insert → Table of Contents) rather than typed manually. (2) You are using Save As, not Print. (3) In the PDF export options, "Create bookmarks" is checked — this also enables internal link generation. After export, verify by clicking a TOC entry — it should jump to the corresponding heading.
Fixing an Already-Exported Broken-Link PDF
If you have a PDF where links are broken and do not have the original Word file: there is no automated way to restore the links. You would need to manually add hyperlink annotations in Acrobat Pro (Tools → Edit PDF → Link → Add/Edit Web or Document Link). For a document with many links, this is impractical — re-export from the source Word file using the correct method. If the PDF was generated by a colleague, ask them to re-export using File → Save As → PDF rather than printing.
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