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Fixing Mac PowerPoint PDF Links

When you save a PPTX as a PDF, hyperlinks simply stop working. It’s an age-old gripe with PowerPoint for macOS. More often than not, any links you’ve added to images or shapes just vanish. So why do links fall apart when you export to PDF on macOS? The Mac version of PowerPoint leans on Apple’s built-in PDF engine, and somewhere along the line things go awry. On Windows, PowerPoint uses its own Office PDF routine. That’s where the snag comes from—And here’s how to sort it.

PowerPoint Online

Perhaps the slickest trick—and it won’t cost you a penny. Simply upload your file to PowerPoint Online, then go to File → Save as → Download as PDF.

PowerPoint on Windows

If you’ve got a Windows PC to hand, export your PDF there. One reason I fire up the Windows version of PowerPoint (via a VM) is that links in the PDF work flawlessly.

Transparent Text Boxes

This might sound a tad daft, but sometimes there really is no other way. After all, it gets the job done—so why not?
  1. Place a text box (with any text you like) on top of your shape or image.
  2. Turn that text into a hyperlink, then set the text fill to 100% transparent.
  3. Fill the box with any colour and then set the box fill transparency to 100%—you must apply the fill first, otherwise it won’t work.

Adobe Acrobat Pro DC

If you’ve got the Pro version of Adobe Acrobat, you can slip in links after exporting to PDF. Just open the right-hand pane, select Edit PDF, then hit Link up in the top toolbar. And if you’ve installed Adobe’s add-in, you can save straight from there too—it lives on the Home tab as Create and Share Adobe PDF. Some folks swear by using the Print menu—just print your PPTX via the Adobe virtual printer, then in the print dialog pick PDF → Save as Adobe PDF or simply Save as PDF. That said, it didn’t do the trick for me, so I’d still recommend PowerPoint Online—free, official, and all in your browser. ～ #powerpoint #howto #2k22