The links of a PDF
Add a link on a word or on an area, to an address or to a page of the document. And above all: see every link it already carries, with its real destination — including the ones that display one address and lead somewhere else.
Free · 100% local — nothing is uploaded- 1Open your PDF.
- 2Add a link on a text or an area, or browse the ones that exist.
- 3Download: the links travel with the document.
How to create a link in a PDF, and see the ones it holds
Open the document. To lay a link, select the text to make clickable or draw an area on the page, then give the destination: a web address, an email address, or a page of the document itself — that is how a contents page becomes clickable. To inspect what is already there, the inventory lists every link in the document, page by page, with what it displays and what it really leads to. Addresses written out in the text are spotted and made clickable in one action, all at once or one by one. Links are standard annotations: they work at your recipient’s end without their installing anything, and the document never leaves your device — which counts for an attachment whose links you are checking precisely before touching it.
The link that does not lead where it says
A PDF link displays one text and leads to an address, and nothing obliges the two to resemble each other. It is the trick of fraudulent email, and it travels in attachments too: a document that displays your bank’s address and opens something else. The inventory shows the visible text and the real destination side by side, and flags the links where the two do not agree. It is a check worth running on every PDF received from a stranger, before clicking — and on your own before sending them out, where the case is more humdrum: an address updated in the text and not in the link.
A deleted page, a link pointing beside the mark
Internal links aim at a page, not at a heading. Remove a page, reorder the document, and the links that followed keep aiming at the old position: they lead to the wrong page, and nobody notices until somebody clicks. On export, Vélin realigns the ones that can be realigned and removes those that no longer lead anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
How do I add a clickable link to a PDF?
Select the text to make clickable, or draw an area on the page, then give the destination: a URL, an email address, or a page of the document. The hyperlink you get is a standard annotation of the format.
How do I see every link in a document?
The inventory lists them page by page, with what they display and what they really lead to. It is the only way to spot a lying link, whose visible text shows one address while its destination is another — a common trick in fraudulent email, and one that travels in PDFs too.
Do addresses written in plain text become clickable?
Yes: web and email addresses written in the text are spotted, and you can make them clickable in one action, all of them or one at a time.
What happens to a link that led to a deleted page?
It is realigned onto the right page or removed on export, rather than left in the file pointing beside the mark — a common fault, and invisible until somebody clicks.
Do my links work for the recipient?
Yes: they are standard link annotations, read by Acrobat, Preview, browsers and e-readers, with nothing to install.