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Are you a Macbook user and working on MS Word 2011 or earlier and PDF a lot? Then there is a good chance you come across vexing issues as this:
You just finish a three-page word document with dozens of hyperlinks on it; you save it as PDF. But before you send it to your colleagues via email, you noticed that most of or even all the hyperlinks, including the table of contents and reference, are not clickable at all.
They are blue and underlined as they should be, but there are just no links embedded there. Wired, huh?
If you have ever experienced or are experiencing this trouble, you are not alone. This hyperlink not being retained after Word to PDF conversion happens to all macOS users like you.
No need to worry if it confuses you. We’ve got a few workarounds for you. Just read on to learn how to convert Word to PDF with hyperlinks on Mac.
Why are your hyperlinks not clickable in PDF on Mac?
The answer is simple: you are using Preview, the default PDF reader on macOS, to read your converted PDF documents, instead of the free Acrobat Reader from Adobe.
There is one thing in Acrobat Reader that Preview does not have. It’s the auto link detection feature. It detects texts starting with http:// or https:// or email address and create links from them. So if you use the free Adobe reader instead of Preview to read PDF on Mac, you may see different results.
Another reason, as people pointed out, may be that Word’s Mac version does not have the “keep hyperlink option” as the Windows version does. This directly results in confusion to those new Mac users who just switch from Windows.
6 methods to convert Word to PDF with hyperlinks on Mac
Below is a list of 6 methods to convert Word to PDF while preserving hyperlinks on Mac. Some may work for you, others may not. If it disappoints you, try upgrading your tools you are working on. You just have to make sure it’s not a software thing.
1. “Best for electronic distribution and accessibility” option in Word
If you are using Word 2016 for Mac (or later) and you lose your hyperlinks after exporting Word to PDF, try the following to get the trouble fixed:
Step 1: Insert links, and make sure all of them works fine. In other words, avoid inserting dead links to the file.
Step 2: Go to File > Save as, and choose PDF in the file format options.
Step 3: Check the box “Best for electronic distribution and accessibility”, and click Export.
This will normally retain the hyperlinks on your new PDF documents. But there seems to be another bummer coming out of this trick. It converts links, but will probably mess up the font formatting. The problem still exists in 2020. So if you can’t accept this, skip to the other methods below.
2. Keep hyperlinks live by using Pages to do the Word to PDF conversion
Pages is the default Word-like software on Apple Macbook. But you may not be using it just simply because it’s not like Word. But in some scenarios, Pages fixes things that Word can’t.
Processing Doc. or Docx. files in Pages will help you bypass the PDF hyperlink issue on Mac. Just follow the steps below:
Step 1: Go to File > Print, click the PDF button down below the pop-up window, and select Save as PDF.
Step 2: Put on a name for the PDF, choose a location to save PDF, and click Save.
This is where Pages beats Word. Whether the hyperlinks are real URLs (starting with http:// or https://) or not, Pages embeds them just fine.
3. Use WPS — best free MS Office alternative on Mac (recommended)
You may think of switching from Mac to Windows. After all, converting Word to PDF using the Windows version of Word won’t bring you all these. It has the “keep hyperlinks and bookmarks” setting, which makes things much simpler.
Well, WPS, the free Office alternative on Mac, will save you from the grand project of switching the operation system. This Chinese software works perfectly the same on Mac as you are using Word on Windows. Since it’s completely free and does some optimization over Office, it’s even much better than it’s competitor.
You can convert Word to PDF with hyperlinks on Mac by using WPS for Mac by the following steps:
Step 1: Download WPS for Mac here, and open your Word file with it.
Step 2: Go to File > Export to PDF. Under the Export options, check the Hyperlink box, and click OK.
Step 3: Wait until it completes saving, and click Open the File button on the new window.
You will see the hand icon when you hover you mouse on each hyperlink. That means all of them are clickable. Now you can say goodbye officially to Word for Mac.
4. Google Docs approach
Google Docs can also do the same thing with similar procedures, which are no more than Open > Check links > Save/Download as PDF. And all your links will be included in the new PDF file.
But just as the Save as PDF feature in Word, Google Docs don’t retain the formatting either. If those hyperlinks are way more important to you than those fancy formatting, this method will do you just fine.
5. Other paid tools
I personally would not recommend this approach. Price is the biggest concern. Why would I spend money to do something that I can simply get done with tons of free tricks?
But if you are not only looking for a paid app that did only this, you may give those a try. There are actually many PDF tools in the market, PDFElement, PDFPen Pro, free DF WIZ, etc. You probably need a few minutes to compare the price and features before you purchase.
6. A fun fix without using any tool, though complicated
This is just shared to entertain, not for serious problem-solving. It’s more than a few clicks. A few settings and adjustment, and even patience may be required. But it does get hyperlinks back where they supposed to be in PDF on Mac.
Step 1: In you Word document for Mac, put a blank line above the line where there is a linked word or phrases.
Step 2: Paste the link to that blank line, and shrink the link to the size that fits right above the texts where you want to insert that link.
Step 3: Select the link and adjust the link spacing to 1.0.
Step 4: Make the link line invisible by changing it’s font color to white.
Then you can go with the regular Save as PDF steps. After that, test each link by hovering the mouse over the texts and links and clicking on it.
Final words
That’s pretty much it. You can try the each of these methods until you find one working well. Don’t ask how to convert PDF to Word with hyperlinks again. It’s no big deal anymore, because you have tons of methods to work through it.
Get the best writing tool
Since the 1980s, Microsoft Word has been dominating all the writing software worldwide. If you get a résumé, document, report, or memo today, chances are it would be in either .doc or .docx format. It’s the de facto internationally accepted way of corporate communication.
Not surprisingly, Microsoft Word is not free. As part of the Office 365 suite, Microsoft Word would cost households $6.99 a month ($9.99 for a whole family) or $12.50 a month per business user. You can also just buy a standalone version of Microsoft Word outright for $139.99. But if you just need to edit an occasional document or use the basic formatting features, you’d rather not spend anything.
Is there a free version of Microsoft Word for Mac? Is there a free version of Office for Mac? Let’s answer these and more questions relating to how you can get Microsoft Word for Mac free and also suggest some better alternatives altogether.
Alternative to MS Word on Mac
Collabio Spaces is the best app to replace Microsoft Word with. Write and co-edit your documents offline.
Can I Download Microsoft Word For Free On Mac?
When someone sends you a .docx file and you don’t have Microsoft Word for Mac installed, what do you do? You can, of course, open the file with Quick Look or Preview, but the styling might be off and you wouldn’t be able to edit it.
If you decide to look up something like “Microsoft Word free download” online, you’ll stumble upon dozens of YouTube tutorials and written guides on how you can get free Microsoft Word by downloading a trial version and using a code-cracking app on it to get the license key for it. Not only this is illegal, you also risk downloading all kinds of malware to your Mac.
Luckily, there are a few other ways you can get Microsoft Word free.
Use MS Word online
Is Microsoft Word for Mac free? No. Is Microsoft Word online, free? Yes! It’s not well-known, but you can use Word on the web at no cost. All you need is a free Microsoft account. The catch is that the MS Word online version is not as advanced as its desktop counterpart, but it’s still good enough for all the basic work with documents and for writing something on your own.
Here’s how to get Microsoft Word online for free:
Visit the MS Word online page
Click “Sign up for free”
Create your account
Choose to start a new document or drag and drop an existing one right onto the web app
Get a free Microsoft Office 365 trial
In case you have a complex project coming up that requires more of the features not available in MS Word online, you can access everything that the regular Microsoft Word has to offer by subscribing for a free Microsoft Word trial via Microsoft Office 365. You get one month to finish your project and you can use all the apps in MS Office 365, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, etc.
Here’s how to sign up for the Microsoft Word free trial:
Visit the Microsoft 365 page
Click “Try 1 month free”
Sign in with your free Microsoft account or register a new one
Get your Microsoft Word free download
Try free alternatives to Microsoft Word
If you need to use Microsoft Word for an extended period of time, and a one-month trial won’t cut it, you can try to actually substitute for another similar free app that’s fully compatible with Microsoft Word.
10+ writing tools in one app
Enhance your writing skills with Setapp, a productivity service that gives you access to many writing and editing apps.
Google Docs, as part of G Suite, has improved greatly over the years and now supports custom styles, tables, in-line images, and more. Although it’s an online app, it feels native and can both edit and export .docx while keeping all the formatting intact.
LibreOffice (also known as OpenOffice) is another suite of text-editing apps available for free to anyone. Its Microsoft Word alternative is called LibreOffice Writer, which has many desktop publishing compatibilities of its paid competitor and is also completely compatible with it.
Use Microsoft Word with iPad
A surprisingly lesser known trick to get a full working version of Microsoft Word free is to load it on your iPad. Yes, the iPad version of Microsoft Word doesn’t cost anything and, with the release of iPads that feature Bluetooth keyboard support, it’s just as capable as its macOS counterpart.
Embrace third-party Mac apps
While Microsoft Word dominance is still apparent, it’s hardly the best app for all the word-processing jobs we need to do today. With the release of Mac App Store, we’ve seen a great proliferation of niche text editors, journals, desktop publishers, and more — every one of which is best at solving a specific problem.
Let’s look at a few of the best apps for working with words out there today.
Collabio Spaces is a text editor with unique ad-hoc collaboration features. This app goes beyond creating and formatting text (although you can do it too, obviously). Collabio turns your device into a server and transmits your document to other people. All you have to do is share a password with them and start co-editing in real time, without uploading your document to a cloud.
Ulysses is one of the most popular writing apps of recent years. From small notes to manuscripts, its distraction-free environment just lets you get things done. The app has a built-in support for Markdown as well as grammar and style checkers. When you’re done, simply export your results as a PDF or publish to WordPress or Medium directly.
Focused is another app for writing purists that does everything to get you concentrated on the words that flow from your keyboard. The app supports beautiful typography, various themes suitable for different times of day as well as ambient soundtracks to make it so you fully immerse in your environment.
MarsEdit allows you to transport your complete blogging setup offline. You can edit HTML, rich text, or plain text to write and design blog posts with images, infographics, and videos with zero internet connection. Then upload your new blog post on schedule to the blog when you’re back online. As MarsEdit saves everything as you go on your Mac, you’ll never lose any data because of WiFi troubles.
Manuscripts empowers you to take on even the most complex writing projects possible: research papers, textbooks, novels, screenplays, etc. The app supports a variety of formats, multi-level outlines, templates, tables, graphs, LaTex, document versioning, and citation editing. Instead of trying to adjust Microsoft Word to your needs, let Manuscripts adjust to you.
Diarly enables you to think freely. The app encourages your daily journaling practice and makes the writing habit easy and beautiful. You can organize your notes, add lists, calendar events, sync across devices, and more. Diarly also takes your security seriously, encrypting all the entries on the fly.
So is Microsoft Word for Mac free? Not exactly. But you can get a lot of the same features from MS Word online, sign up for the Microsoft Word free trial, take a look at Google Docs or LibreOffice Writer, and use Microsoft Word free on iPad. Even better, give a wealth of more specialized apps a try. Sketch notes in Ulysses, concentrate on your writing in Focused, finish your blog post in MarsEdit, create your life’s work in Manuscripts, and keep a journal with Diarly.
Best of all, Collabio Spaces, Ulysses, Focused, MarsEdit, Manuscripts, and Diarly are available to you absolutely free with a seven-day trial of Setapp, a platform with 200+ outstanding apps for your Mac. Try every single one today and discover the latest and greatest feats of Mac engineering at no cost.
Ocr Pdf To Word Mac Free
