• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Erin Wright Writing

Writing Tips for the Real World

  • Microsoft Word Tutorials
  • Adobe Acrobat Tutorials
  • Writing Tips
  • Editing Tips
  • YouTube Videos
  • Contact

How to Create Internal Links in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat

By Erin Wright 10 Comments

Desk against Brick Wall with Text Overlay "How to Create Internal Links in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat"

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 fifty 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.

Image of Adobe Acrobat Tools Tab | Step 1 in How to Create Internal Links in PDFs

2. Select the Edit PDF icon in the Tools Pane.

Image of Adobe Acrobat Edit PDF Icon | Step 2 in How to Create Internal Links in PDFs

3. Select the Link down arrow in the Edit PDF toolbar.

Image of Adobe Acrobat Link Down Arrow | Step 3 in How to Create Internal Links in PDFs

4. Select Add/Edit Web or Document Link from the drop-down menu.

Image of Adobe Acrobat Add/Edit Web or Document Link | Step 4 in How To Create Internal Links in PDFs

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.

Image of Selected Text in PDF | Step 5 in How to Create Internal Links in PDFs

6. Select Invisible Rectangle or Visible Rectangle from the Link Type drop-down menu in the Create Link dialog box.

Image of Adobe Acrobat Link Type Options | Step 6 in How to Create Internal Links in PDFs

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.

Image of Go to a page view option | Step 7 in How to Create Internal Links in PDFs

8. Select the Next button.

Image of Create Link Dialog Box Next Button | Step 8 in How to Create Internal Links in PDFs

The Create Go to View dialog box will appear.

Image of Create Go to View Dialog Box

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.

Image of selected view | Step 10 in How to Create Internal Links in PDFs

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.)

Image of Adobe Acrobat Selection Tool | Step 11 in How to Create Internal Links in PDFs

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

10 Comments Filed Under: Adobe Acrobat Tagged With: Acrobat Pro, Acrobat Standard, formatting

Home » How to Create Internal Links in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat
Technical Writer and Editor Erin Wright

Meet the Author

Hello! My name is Erin. I am a technical writer and editor who shares step-by-step software tutorials and writing tips for the real world on this blog and YouTube

You can also connect with me on Facebook and Twitter.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gale says

    June 18, 2020 at 12:40 pm

    Super helpful info / video on creating internal links in a pdf. Thanks!!

    Reply
    • Erin Wright says

      June 18, 2020 at 3:42 pm

      That is so nice of you to say. Thank you for stopping by!

      ~Erin

      Reply
  2. Winsome says

    June 29, 2020 at 2:17 pm

    Hi Erin,
    Your tutorials are soooo clear and simply presented, so that any beginner can understand. Extremely useful resources!!

    Keep up the good work!

    Reply
    • Erin Wright says

      June 29, 2020 at 5:10 pm

      Thank you for the positive feedback. I appreciate it!

      Reply
  3. Anna says

    June 30, 2020 at 4:21 pm

    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!!

    Reply
    • Erin Wright says

      June 30, 2020 at 4:41 pm

      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!

      Reply
  4. C. J. Wheeler, MD, FASN, FASDIN says

    November 8, 2020 at 5:21 pm

    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!

    Reply
    • Erin Wright says

      November 8, 2020 at 6:06 pm

      I appreciate your extremely kind feedback! Thank you for visiting my site!

      Reply
  5. John Bakas says

    November 22, 2020 at 11:45 pm

    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!!

    Reply
    • Erin Wright says

      November 23, 2020 at 6:42 am

      I’m so happy to hear that. Thank you for visiting my site!

      ~Erin

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Never Miss a Tutorial!

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts.

Recent Blog Posts

How to Create Buttons to Page Views in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat

How to Change the Font, Font Size, and Font Color in Microsoft Word

How to Create Navigation Buttons in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat

How to Create an Exclusion Dictionary in Microsoft Word

How to Insert and Modify Images in PDFs with Adobe Acrobat

Tags

Acrobat Pro Acrobat Standard Adobe Acrobat Reader AMA style APA style AP style blogging book review business editing business writing capitalization Chicago style copyediting CSE Style dictionaries editing tips figures and tables formatting Google Docs grammar marketing Microsoft 365 MLA style proofreading punctuation readability spelling structure style guides substantive editing Track Changes Turabian style usability usage Word 365 Word 2010 Word 2013 Word 2016 Word 2019 writing resources writing tips

Footer

  • Resources
  • About Me
  • Microsoft Word Tutorials
  • Adobe Acrobat Tutorials
  • Writing Tips
  • Editing Tips
  • YouTube Videos
  • Contact
Editorial Freelancers Association Logo
Email: erin@erinwrightwriting.com
Phone: 708-669-9503

Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

© Erin Wright, 2012–2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this website’s owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Erin Wright with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.