Today’s tutorial explains how to create internal links in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat Pro DC.
My last software tutorial showed how to create external links in PDFs and how to delete both external and internal links. Although the two processes are similar, the steps for creating internal links are a bit more complex.
This tutorial is also available as a YouTube video showing all the steps in real time.
Watch more than 100 other videos about Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat on my YouTube channel.
Note to Acrobat Reader Users: Adobe’s free PDF software, Acrobat Reader, doesn’t have a tool for creating links. If you need to create links but don’t have access to Acrobat, create the document with the links in Microsoft Word and then convert the Word file to a PDF.
Create Internal Links in PDFs
Steps 1 through 6 are identical to the first six steps of “How to Create External Links in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat.” So, you can skip to step 7 if you already know how to create the link rectangle.
1. Select the Tools tab.
2. Select the Edit PDF icon in the Tools Pane.
3. Select the Link down arrow in the Edit PDF toolbar.
4. Select Add/Edit Web or Document Link from the drop-down menu.
Your selection (arrow) cursor will turn into a crosshair-style cursor.
5. Left-click and hold as you use the cursor to drag a rectangle around the text you want to turn into an internal link.
6. Select Invisible Rectangle or Visible Rectangle from the Link Type drop-down menu in the Create Link dialog box.
The invisible rectangle will be appropriate for most PDFs. If you choose a visible rectangle, you can also select the line style, thickness, and color from the Create Link dialog box.
7. Select Go to a page view in the Link Action section.
8. Select the Next button.
The Create Go to View dialog box will appear.
9. Scroll to the part of the document you want to link to. The Create Go to View dialog box will remain on the screen while you scroll.
Important Note: You are creating a link to the part of the document visible on your screen rather than to specific text. Visit “Three Ways to Create Bookmarks in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat” if you want to link to specific text.
10. Select the Set Link button in the Create Go to View dialog box when the part of the document you want to link to is visible on your screen.
After you select the Set Link button, Acrobat will return to the text you linked to in step 5.
If you chose Invisible Rectangle in step 6, you’ll still see a rectangle around the link you created until you close the Edit PDF toolbar. The rectangle won’t reappear when you reopen the toolbar.
Optional Final Steps: Ensure Your Internal Link Is Working Correctly
11. Select the selection (arrow) cursor. (The link you just created won’t work until the selection cursor is chosen or the Edit PDF toolbar is closed.)
12. Click the link to ensure it takes you to the correct location in your document.
13. Save your document.
Do you want to create a button to a page view rather than an internal link? Visit “How to Create Buttons to Page Views in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat.”
Related Resources
How to Attach Files to PDFs in Adobe Acrobat
How to Create In-Text Links to Attached PDFs in Adobe Acrobat
How to Create Navigation Buttons in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat
How to Create a Blank PDF in Adobe Acrobat
How to Open Links in Separate Tabs in Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader
Updated March 28, 2021
Super helpful info / video on creating internal links in a pdf. Thanks!!
That is so nice of you to say. Thank you for stopping by!
~Erin
Hi Erin,
Your tutorials are soooo clear and simply presented, so that any beginner can understand. Extremely useful resources!!
Keep up the good work!
Thank you for the positive feedback. I appreciate it!
This is a great tutorial! I can’t find anything this good on the Adobe site much less anywhere else. Thank you. I’m struggling to get my link to jump to the right spot, though. I’m setting the link in a position that is near the end of a page and every time I set the link, then go to check that it works, it just links to the top of the following page. Infuriating!!
Thank you for visiting my blog! I’m sorry to hear that you are having trouble setting your link. I’ve faced that problem before and the only workable solution I could come up with was to set the link toward the middle of the page, but with the bottom of the page still visible on the screen. Best of luck!
Thanks so much for your excellent presentation! You are obviously very gifted in delivering your knowledge and experience to others. Without a doubt, your presentation was one of the finest instructional videos that I have ever watched. The presentation was clear and concise. It had excellent graphics and illustrations that were easy to follow. Your voice is pleasant, and your style of delivery is very polished. There were no distracting attempts at humor. When you decide to put a book together, I would like to be the first one to purchase it.
Cheers!
I appreciate your extremely kind feedback! Thank you for visiting my site!
This is such a great explanation. I had no idea how to do this. My document now has four beautiful internal links. To show you how good this tutorial is, I followed it without a misstep. I call that foolproof!!
I’m so happy to hear that. Thank you for visiting my site!
~Erin
Hi Erin – I came across your tutorial on internal links and super clear and works perfectly – thanks for posting.
I had one question… I am working on a pdf doc where the contents is running down the lefthand edge of every page – so would like to create a link box would apply throughout the document – is that possible?
Best –
Tim
Hello, Tim. Thank you for visiting my blog! You can use buttons to duplicate links across your entire document. I have two tutorials on that subject, which you might find helpful:
How to Create Buttons to Page Views in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat
How to Create Navigation Buttons in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat
Best of luck!
~Erin