Links and attachments in PDFs Part 2

Links and attachments in PDFs Part 2

Add attachments to PDFs

Attachments in a PDF are external files incorporated into the document, encompassing various formats like images, PDFs, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and multimedia files such as audio or video. Embedded file attachments enrich the primary document by providing supplementary information or resources, ensuring users can access all necessary files conveniently in one location.

When you relocate the PDF, the attached files move along with it. Attachments may contain links to or from the parent document or other attachments.

Note

Differentiate between attached comments and file attachments. Attached comments display a File Attachment or Sound Attachment icon on the page and appear in the Comments List alongside other comments.

  1. 1. Select Edit > More > Attach file.

  2. 2. In the Add Files dialog, select the file you want to attach.

    Caution

    Beware of attaching potentially harmful file types like EXE, VBS, or ZIP. Attaching these files may trigger a warning that the files won't open in Acrobat. 

  3. 3. To add a description to the attachment, select the file, and then from the Options menu, select Edit Description and edit the description text.

  4. 4. Save the file.

Open attachments

You can open a PDF attachment and modify it if you have the necessary permissions.

For attachments with other file types, you can open or save the files. Opening the file launches the application that handles the file format. However, you'll need the application installed on your computer to open the attachment.

  1. 1. Go to  > View > Show/Hide > Side panels > Attachments.

  2. 2. Select the attachment that you want to open.

    Note

    To search for an attachment, select Search Attachments, and then in the Search window, type the word or phrase that you want to search for, and then select Search Attachments.

    On Windows®, you can search Microsoft® Office documents (such as .doc, .xls, and .ppt), AutoCAD drawing file formats (.dwg and .dwf), HTML files, and Rich Text Format (.rtf) files.

    On MacOS, you can search Microsoft® Word (.doc), HTML, and .rtf files. 

  3. 3. From the Options menu, select the appropriate option to open the attachment in its native application, save the attachment, or delete it.

Note

To enable Microsoft® and AutoCAD file searches, the IFilters appropriate to the file types must be installed. IFilters are typically installed with their applications, but can also be downloaded from product websites.

You can automatically create links in a PDF from all URLs or URLs on selected pages. Use the Auto-create links from URLs option in the Link menu to automatically generate active links from the text in all PDFs that you open.

Create web links

  1. 1. Open a PDF. From the global bar in the upper left, select Edit > Link > Auto-create links from URLs.

  2. 2. In the dialog, select All to create links from all URLs in the document. Alternatively, select From and enter a page range to create links on selected pages.

Remove all web links

  1. 1. Open a PDF. From the global bar in the upper left, select Edit > Link > Remove web links.

  2. 2. In the dialog, select All to remove all web links in the document. Alternatively, select From and enter a page range to remove web links on selected pages.

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