Hyperlink problem with Excel conversion

[steviewevie]

I'm using the add-in to Excel (Microsoft 365, Excel 2403) to convert a spreadsheet to a PDF. PDF-XChange Editor version 10.2.1 build 385.

I am finding that with a particular spreadsheet (which isn't complicated), the hyperlink conversion is somehow going awry in that the clickable area in the resulting PDF is slightly to the right of the hyperlinked text. The same thing happens in Acrobat DC Reader as well as using PDF-XChange to view it (so it's a conversion issue and not a viewing one).

The spreadsheet source and converted PDF are attached, along with a very short video capture of me hovering the mouse over the hyperlinked field and showing how it's not a clickable link until you move a bit right.

I have hacked around the spreadsheet a bit and got it to work absolutely fine, but I haven't figured out what combination of things works around the problem, and I'm pretty sure I shouldn't need to change the spreadsheet to have it work properly.

Thanks in advance.

Test.pdf

Excel sheet - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qkqkz5iyvc72mwf1f4vx5/Test.xlsx?rlkey=ekcmjkjhrfget03p5brxhxc3a&dl=0
Recording - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6xomiacxm5rkccmpgmr4o/Recording-2024-04-18-134712.mp4?rlkey=ahi8u8i46mhrme718fzqd7lmu&dl=0

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello steviewevie,

This usually happens when Excel works with different objects with varying DPI - so the links are offset from their actual positions.
Can you please try to see if you can force Excel to use 96 DPI for that file and see if it helps?

Kind regards,
Stefan

[steviewevie]

Sorry for my ignorance, but where would I do that? I've attached my spreadsheet and it only has text and linked text in it, it doesn't have any graphics objects in it. To my knowledge I haven't messed about with DPI.

I don't know if I'm doing what you suggested correctly, but I just tried going into "Edit Settings" in the PDF-XChange add-in, and in the Paper tab, under Graphics, I changed the resolution from the 300 that it was set to to 96, and it made no difference and the clickable area was still offset.

[steviewevie]

I have reproduced the problem in the spreadsheet linked below which only has a single line.

It appears to be something related to the length of this line, because if I use other single lines from the same original sheet it works fine (i.e. the link is in the right place).

Something about this longer line seems to be messing things up, and switching to 96DPI makes no difference.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/p1l9kvglql9gb6lpah6c9/Test-2.xlsx?rlkey=iz56zwdwgqik1v1mucg60nfj1&dl=0

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello steviewevie,

Thanks for the slimmed down sample! I've managed to reproduce this with your samples and the DPI settings in both Excel (Under Advanced) and inside the PDF-XChange Add-in seem to not have effect on the link offset.

Just spoke with a colleague who told me that this is a known problem with the current build.
I will check with other colleagues now to see if there are any further updates.

Kind regards,
Stefan

[steviewevie]

Thank you Stefan, good to know that it's a known problem so I will look out for news of a fix. Thanks again for confirming.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]

Hello steviewevie,

I've heard back from our devs, and they will try to work on a fix for your files.
In the mean time - please try to just drag and drop your Excel files over the Editor. It will do the conversion on the fly, and as that uses a different approach - your links should be handled better!

Kind regards,
Stefan

[steviewevie]

Thank you Stefan, that works for me too! I greatly appreciate having a workaround, thanks again.

[Stefan - PDF-XChange]