Need pdf printer driver which creates/embeds external links

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mattad
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Posts: 162
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2008 10:37 am

Need pdf printer driver which creates/embeds external links

Post by mattad »

This question is not really PDf-XChange Viewer specific but somehow pdf related.

When I print a webpage from InternetExplorer/Firefox then I can use one of the many pdf printer drivers on the market. Unfortunately all the links from the current webpage to other webpages are (mostly) lost during printing.
Only really explicite links which show the full URL including http://...... are transferred to real usable/clickable embedded links in the resulting pdf doc.

All links which contain e.g. relative links in the original page (e.g. secondpage.html)
are flattened and converted to simple unclickable text. Same with words which are defined as link and the the link is hidden in the html code like

<a href="next.html">here</a>

Does anyone know a smarter pdf printer driver which detects even such links and is able to convert them to clickable external links in the resulting pdf doc as well?

Thank you
Matt
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Paul - PDF-XChange
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Re: Need pdf printer driver which creates/embeds external links

Post by Paul - PDF-XChange »

Hi mattad,

we have one right here at Tracker Software. The PDF-XChange Standard Print Driver includes with it a tool called the "Office Addin" which will add exactly this kind of functionality to Internet Explorer as well as the applications that are a part of the MS Office Suite.

When you use File --> Print to create a PDF document you are actually redirecting a print job and the Windows printing subsystem as used by most Virtual Printers will strip this additional data from the job as it is not relevant to physical printers. It is inherently part of the Virtual Printer concept. What we have done is take it to the next level, we actually search the print job for all these non-literal hyperlinks and, after the PDF is created, go back and add the links resulting in a PDF document that honours them.

All this is transparent to the user and you end up with a document that does have these links. You can see this illustrated by using IE and comparing the results of converting a page to PDF by File --> Print vs our Office Addin Toolbar Icon. You need to use the latter to get the additional links in the resultant PDF.

hth
Best regards

Paul O'Rorke
PDF-XChange Support
http://www.pdf-xchange.com
mattad
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Posts: 162
Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2008 10:37 am

Re: Need pdf printer driver which creates/embeds external links

Post by mattad »

Paul - Tracker Supp wrote:Hi mattad,

we have one right here at Tracker Software. The PDF-XChange Standard Print Driver includes with it a tool called the "Office Addin" which will add exactly this kind of functionality to Internet Explorer as well as the applications that are a part of the MS Office Suite.
Ok, thank you, I will check it.

But what about printing from Firefox?
Do you have a printer driver which does the trick for this (and other browsers) as well?

Matt
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Stefan - PDF-XChange
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Re: Need pdf printer driver which creates/embeds external links

Post by Stefan - PDF-XChange »

Hi Matt,

I am afraid that currently the plugin is only for IE.

Best,
Stefan
chillrobot
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Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:55 am

Re: Need pdf printer driver which creates/embeds external li

Post by chillrobot »

For everyone who wants support for links in PDFs created from HTML, please voice your interest in this feature request thread: https://forum.pdf-xchange.com/ ... 40&t=11805
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Stefan - PDF-XChange
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Re: Need pdf printer driver which creates/embeds external li

Post by Stefan - PDF-XChange »

Thanks for the post chillrobot,

I am sure all interested will give their opinion there.

Best,
Stefan