Automatically add a link to multiple PDFs in Adobe Acrobat Pro (Batch process?)

Question

I would like to add a link to an external website to a set of PDF files - Ultimately each file would have this link in the upper left hand corner. Is there a way to automate this, much like the automation Photoshop offers? I looked through the batch processing and I didn't have any luck finding what I am trying to do. Has anyone ever tried doing this?

Answer 1

Acrobat pro doesn't have a lot of manual or interface based batch operations for links, other than scanning a document's text and making text based URLs, or at least whatever it thinks are URLs, and making them into live links.

So if you have a typed URL of editable text in your PDF, you can go that route and check it, save, done...

OR... if you have a graphic in your doc and want to make it a "button", you may want to try this :

1. If you build your doc in InDesign you can create links for PDF export.

2. If you create a template or "Master page" layout in indesign with this, this template can be applied to all pages immediately.

3. This template can be a transparent rectangle and overlay your existing design.

It's possible to import an entire PDF into InDesign and apply this template to the whole doc and then resave as a PDF.

1. to do this in inDesign make an object, like a rectangle and right click or CTRL+click the item.

2. Choose interactive, and choose the type of interaction, like convert to button, new hyperlink etc. - many of these options are IDENTICAL to the Adobe acrobat pro dialogues...

You can then set this up as a master page, and apply it easily and quickly.

I'm sorry I don't have as elegant a solution in Acrobat, but this will hopefully help you more than just a simple "no" to your question.

you can use acrobat to make a link and copy and paste the invisible rectangle on each page, while tedious, it's another option.

Answer 2

I think Acrobat does this by default by just writing the URL. If you write your URL like :

http://www.myurl.com , or just www.myurl.com. After you save and open the PDF the link is there, you will notice the cursor turning into the pointing hand thingy and you can click it.

But the downside to links in PDF files is that people are not quite used with them, to make it more noticeable I would underline the text and maybe make it Bold or something to suggest that it is a link, not just normal text.

And another issue is that, usually when you click a link in a PDF file, you(the user) get some kind of security warning that you must "Allow" before the link actually works.

So if you are trying to add a link in the upper left hand corner, maybe just look for something that writes text in a batch process for PDF files(I dont know of any such thing...) but there must be one,

Or...another way, not to easy I must say, is to use this plug-in for InDesign, that allows you to import PDF into InDesign. Then within InDesign create a Master Page with your link in the upper hand left corner and apply the Master Page to all of your pages in the PDF. But you might run into problems when importing the pdf into InDesign, depending on how complex is the PDF design.

Hope this helps, its all I could think of... good luck!

Answer 3

If all you need is a simple text URL in each PDF, you can run this as an Action directly within Acrobat.

Open the Action Wizard: File > Action Wizard > Create New Action

Start With should be set to "A Folder on My Computer", and Save To should be set to "Ask When Action is Started".

The only Step is "Header and Footer (Add)" under the Pages section. Enter the URL in the Left Header field, click OK, and save the action with a suitable name. You can run it immediately, or access it later under More Actions from File > Action Wizard.

When you run the action, specify the source and and output folders when prompted, then just let it rip.

For versions earlier than Acrobat X, see this link for the steps involved. Adobe moved stuff around between 9 and 10, driving many people to sit rocking back and forth in dark corners, weeping quietly as they stuck pins in voodoo dolls.