InDesign: create a hyperlink to a PDF

Question

I am formatting a research paper in InDesign, and I'm working on making it interactive. I'm trying to add a hyperlink to this PDF:

http://in.gov/isda/files/Promoting_the_Good_Works_of_Indiana_Agriculture_Release.pdf

Every time I try to create a hyperlink to its url, the hyperlinks panel lists its status as "URL is Unavailable."

So, is it possible to create a hyperlink in InDesign to a PDF? If so, is there a different method that I need to use? Thanks

Update: Here's a picture showing the hyperlinks panel and the edit hyperlink panels pulled up.

Answer 1

If you export to Interactive PDF, explicit URLs will be hyperlinked. Since it's a reference list with explicit URL, maybe you want to try that.

If you want to create hyperlinks using the links panel, check that _destination_ field is "URL" but not "Shared destination".

This might help: http://indesignsecrets.com/understanding-indesigns-hyperlink-formatting.php

Answer 2

The easiest thing you can do:

• paste your url as normal text and forget about it (nothing else needed really)
• when exporting to PDF, check the boxes in red below. this will auto-detect there is a url in your text and automatically place a link on it
• please note this will not add any special formatting to your link. it will look the same as the text in the paragraph. some extra formatting will be needed if you want this link to look different