Impossible to export an affinity publisher document to various pdf formats with hyperlinks

[Andrea00]

Dear Serif,

 

My name in Andrea and I'm an Italian postgraduate in law. I have a huge problem when trying to export the affinity publisher file I'm working on, so that I kindly ask for your help.

 

Hardware and software

Preliminary information about the hardware and software I'm using:

- macOS Monterey 12.3.1

- MacBook Pro 13", 2017, Touch Bar, intel Core i7, 16GB 2133 2133 MHz LPDDR3, 2TB, Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 1536 MB

- Affinity Publisher 1.10.5 (I've bought affinity publisher, designer, and photo)

- Affinity publisher settings -> see the attached image 

 

Affinity publisher document affected by the problem

I'm working on an affinity publisher document, about 47MB, made up of 37 pages. Almost all the document is made up of text, schematizations and mind maps.

Some pages are very big in term of absolute dimensions of the canvas (even though the pages are not so big in terms of MB; as I've just said the whole document is about 47mb).

The document is not meant for printing but for digital consultation, lessons and webinars, virtual dashboards, etc.

If somebody from affinity can help me, I can send him privately the document (I don't want to share the document here publicly, since I have been working on it since almost a year, is stilla work in progress that needs a few more months of work, and it will be a protected document and an important work tool in my field. It's my biggest work up to now).

 

What's the problem

When I try to export the document in pdf, it appears me a generic error that tells me that the exportation was unsuccessful (and the pop-up doesn't tell me what's the problem).

To be more precise I made various attempts, selecting, in the export settings, different pdf formats:

- PDF (digital - small size) -> unsuccessful

- PDF (digital - high quality) -> unsuccessful

- PDF (for export) -> unsuccessful

- PDF (for flatten) -> unsuccessful

- PDF/X-4 -> successful

When I successfully exported my file to pdf/X-4 I felt really relieved (since before I was a bit panicking). But.. as soon as I opened the exported pdf I saw that the exported pdf doesn't include bookmarks and hyperlinks (and then I started panicking again, since my affinity publisher files contains more that 400 hyperlinks, so that hyperlinks are a huge part of my work, and I cannot do without them).

So, aware that the problem might be bookmarks and hyperlinks, I tried to export my file in PDF (digital - high quality), deselecting hyperlinks and bookmarks in export settings, and I managed to export my file successfully (but without hyperlinks and bookmarks)

Verified that the problem are hyperlinks and bookmarks, unfortunately I really can't do without the more than 400 hyperlinks I made, since those hyperlinks are an essential feature of my document.

I've checked for errors before exporting the file, but there are no errors related to hyperlinks, as you can see in the attached file (the only red flag in the screenshot below is the first line that tells me to refresh the table of contents.. and so I've refreshed it before exporting).

I'm stuck and I don't know what to do.

By the way, if advanced support requires me to pay something, I would totally pay for it. I just want to solve a situation that scares me (it would be impossibile for me, every single time I export a new version of my work - which will occur pretty frequently in the future, since laws and judgments are continuously evolving - having to export my file without hyperlinks and having to insert manually those hyperlinks with some sort of pdf viewer. If would require me hours and hours of work every time I need to publish an updated version of my file..)

 

Thank you very much

 

Andrea

Edited May 23, 2022 by Andrea00

[walt.farrell]

You can generate a log file of the PDF export process, which may give some clues as to what is going wrong.

Are your hyperlinks just text hyperlinks, or have you added hyperlinks to image objects? There have been reports of that causing problems, especially if any of the image object extends outside the page boundary.

[Andrea00]

Dear Walt,

 

thank you very much for your answer.

 

My hyperlinks are

- mostly text (about 90% of them)

- a few of them to web pages (about the remaining 10%).

 

Let me be more precise: in my document hyperlinks are designed in order to allow rapid navigation (back and forth) through different arguments and references, so every hyperlink has the following structure:

- I've created two anchors: for example, the first anchor is located in page x and is named 1a, while the second anchor is located in page y and is named 1b;

- then in page x I've created an hyperlink from 1a to 1b, and in page y I've created a "gemini" hyperlink from 1b to 1a.

In the attached screenshot you can see and example of the structure of anchors and hyperlinks in my document.

 

Even though all my hyperlinks are text hyperlinks (and a few web hyperlinks), every text hyperlink is followed by a tiny png-icon (a little chain) incorporated in the text. I've just realised that almost always I've incorporated that little png in anchors and hyperlinks, as you can see in the attached screenshot.

If that tiny png had messed up all my hyperlinks, I could exclude it from hyperlinks and anchors. What do you think? (It will be a pretty huge work, since I will have to edit all 400+ anchors and hyperlinks, but if it solves my problem, I will definitely do that. I think I could dedicate one or two hours per day to this work, so that in a few days I think I could write here if that will have solved my problem).

 

In the meanwhile I've activated pdf logs and you can see those logs in the attached file (It's a pretty huge file! I've tried to open it with a text editor, but I don't understand anything about it, so I need some help to figure out what's the problem in those logs).

 

Please, let me know if excluding that little png from anchors and hyperlinks could solve the problem (if that's a probability, I'll start working on that, and I'll write back as soon as I will have edited all anchors and hyperlinks)

 

Thank you very much for your precious help 🙏

 

Best regards

 

Andrea

 

 

 

PDFLib.log

[NathanC]

Hi @Andrea00,

Thanks for sending over the PDF log, to aid in the investigation could you send over the file in question to the below private dropbox link?

https://www.dropbox.com/request/ECnGvTGAZpoe9RQApkel

Many Thanks

[walt.farrell]

Thanks for the log file. I hope I can get you close. The general approach is to look at the end of the file, where we see this (I've included some lines previous to the end for context):
 

PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "URI", "url={https://www.anagrafenazionale.interno.it}")
[641]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 2323.123038, 34585.507449, 2482.719229, 34595.562136, "link", "action {activate 641} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "URI", "url={https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/039Sn8A3UgSAG34C-FdSWnxEA#Anagrafe_online_-_esempio}")
[642]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 2562.273428, 34585.507449, 2588.790030, 34595.562136, "link", "action {activate 642} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "URI", "url={https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/039Sn8A3UgSAG34C-FdSWnxEA#Anagrafe_online_-_esempio}")
[643]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 2090.023917, 34573.889407, 2416.346026, 34583.944094, "link", "action {activate 643} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "GoTo", "destination {page 32 type fixed left 351.831602 top 8959.952476}")
[644]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 1995.100695, 37927.031705, 2068.140734, 37937.086393, "link", "action {activate 644} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "GoTo", "destination {page 32 type fixed left 351.831602 top 8959.952476}")
[645]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 1662.040149, 37915.413663, 2017.414505, 37925.468351, "link", "action {activate 645} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "GoTo", "destination {page 37 type fixed left 531.474607 top 1463.152345}")
[646]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 2120.942776, 37544.189508, 2240.669182, 37554.244195, "link", "action {activate 646} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "GoTo", "destination {page 5 type fixed left 1384.242287 top 27250.817484}")
[647]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 1706.793430, 32753.250425, 1726.801731, 32763.305113, "link", "action {activate 647} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "GoTo", "destination {page 5 type fixed left 1384.242287 top 27250.817484}")
[648]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 1560.380833, 32741.632383, 1607.566711, 32751.687071, "link", "action {activate 648} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "GoTo", "destination {page 5 type fixed left 1514.483691 top 23490.480791}")
[649]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 1496.635022, 32226.905169, 1774.727150, 32236.959856, "link", "action {activate 649} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "GoTo", "destination {page 5 type fixed left 1868.665824 top 21144.7632}")
[650]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 1704.241986, 30267.459858, 1819.813763, 30277.514546, "link", "action {activate 650} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "GoTo", "destination {page 5 type fixed left 1868.665824 top 21144.7632}")
[651]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 1322.045209, 30255.841816, 1694.909798, 30265.896504, "link", "action {activate 651} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "GoTo", "destination {page 5 type fixed left 5730.840481 top 35771.824604}")
[Last exception 1418 in PDF_create_action]["Value 35771.824604 for option 'top' is too large (maximum 32767)"]

The issue seems to be on page 5. You can see some URLs at the top, which may help identify where on the page it was working. Then several links to page 5 content, but the last one appears to point off the top (or bottom?) of the page. That one is the one with the problem.

[Andrea00]

3 hours ago, NathanC said:

Hi @Andrea00,

Thanks for sending over the PDF log, to aid in the investigation could you send over the file in question to the below private dropbox link?

https://www.dropbox.com/request/ECnGvTGAZpoe9RQApkel

Many Thanks

Dear @NathanC,

thank you very much for your kind answer. Following the suggestion of another user I'm reviewing all the hyperlinks in the document, in order to exclude all the objects from anchors and hyperlinks, so that anchors and hyperlinks will be only plain text (maybe this won't solve my problem, but I think it's something that maybe could help and that will improve and simplify the structure of my document and will minimise errors in the future).

I've also cancelled those previous little pngs (a little chain) that I used to put in any hyperlink and I'm replacing them with a simple form (two intersected ellipses coloured with grey gradient made directly in affinity publisher and designer and imported in document assets) in order to simplify my document.

I've worked the whole morning on the document and I think I will end these simplifications this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

If It sounds good to you,  I'll end this review and then, as soon as I finish (this afternoon / evening or, at most, tomorrow morning), I'll send you the document through the dropbox link you've just sent me, so that you can see a document with a cleaner structure and (hopefully) this will make your support easier (I'm trying to actively collaborate in the solution of the problem).

Thank you very much, I really appreciate your help, and I'll write another post in this thread as soon as I send you the document.

Andrea

––––––––––––––

3 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Thanks for the log file. I hope I can get you close. The general approach is to look at the end of the file, where we see this (I've included some lines previous to the end for context):
 

PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "URI", "url={https://www.anagrafenazionale.interno.it}")
[641]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 2323.123038, 34585.507449, 2482.719229, 34595.562136, "link", "action {activate 641} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "URI", "url={https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/039Sn8A3UgSAG34C-FdSWnxEA#Anagrafe_online_-_esempio}")
[642]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 2562.273428, 34585.507449, 2588.790030, 34595.562136, "link", "action {activate 642} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "URI", "url={https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/039Sn8A3UgSAG34C-FdSWnxEA#Anagrafe_online_-_esempio}")
[643]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 2090.023917, 34573.889407, 2416.346026, 34583.944094, "link", "action {activate 643} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "GoTo", "destination {page 32 type fixed left 351.831602 top 8959.952476}")
[644]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 1995.100695, 37927.031705, 2068.140734, 37937.086393, "link", "action {activate 644} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "GoTo", "destination {page 32 type fixed left 351.831602 top 8959.952476}")
[645]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 1662.040149, 37915.413663, 2017.414505, 37925.468351, "link", "action {activate 645} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "GoTo", "destination {page 37 type fixed left 531.474607 top 1463.152345}")
[646]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 2120.942776, 37544.189508, 2240.669182, 37554.244195, "link", "action {activate 646} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "GoTo", "destination {page 5 type fixed left 1384.242287 top 27250.817484}")
[647]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 1706.793430, 32753.250425, 1726.801731, 32763.305113, "link", "action {activate 647} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "GoTo", "destination {page 5 type fixed left 1384.242287 top 27250.817484}")
[648]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 1560.380833, 32741.632383, 1607.566711, 32751.687071, "link", "action {activate 648} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "GoTo", "destination {page 5 type fixed left 1514.483691 top 23490.480791}")
[649]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 1496.635022, 32226.905169, 1774.727150, 32236.959856, "link", "action {activate 649} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "GoTo", "destination {page 5 type fixed left 1868.665824 top 21144.7632}")
[650]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 1704.241986, 30267.459858, 1819.813763, 30277.514546, "link", "action {activate 650} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "GoTo", "destination {page 5 type fixed left 1868.665824 top 21144.7632}")
[651]
PDF_create_annotation(p_0x7fb111165630, 1322.045209, 30255.841816, 1694.909798, 30265.896504, "link", "action {activate 651} borderstyle=solid linewidth=0")
PDF_create_action(p_0x7fb111165630, "GoTo", "destination {page 5 type fixed left 5730.840481 top 35771.824604}")
[Last exception 1418 in PDF_create_action]["Value 35771.824604 for option 'top' is too large (maximum 32767)"]

The issue seems to be on page 5. You can see some URLs at the top, which may help identify where on the page it was working. Then several links to page 5 content, but the last one appears to point off the top (or bottom?) of the page. That one is the one with the problem.

Dear @walt.farrell,

thank you very much for your precious answer and your kind explanations regarding those pdf logs.

I'll try to understand those pdf logs, following your suggestions.

According to you page 5 seems to be the lupus in fabula 🐺.. It doesn't surprises me at all, since it's the largest page and I'm currently working on it (so I'm doing lots of changes, moving boxes, adding links, changing canvas dimensions, etc). I'll try to find out that link that you indicated checking all the anchors and hyperlinks in that page.

Furthermore, following your suggestions, I'm reviewing all my hyperlinks and anchors, removing all the icons and pngs, in order to simplify the structure of my document and in an attempt to minimise errors due to anchors and hyperlinks containing object. As you can see in the attached screenshot, I'm positioning all the objects near the anchors and hyperlinks, but not included in them.

Thank you very much. I really appreciate your help and suggestions.

Andrea

 

[Andrea00]

22 hours ago, NathanC said:

Hi @Andrea00,

Thanks for sending over the PDF log, to aid in the investigation could you send over the file in question to the below private dropbox link?

https://www.dropbox.com/request/ECnGvTGAZpoe9RQApkel

Many Thanks

Dear @NathanC,

after reviewing all my anchors and hyperlinks in these two days, I made other attempts to export my afpub file to pdf with hyperlinks. Unfortunately there's always the same error..

I've reviewed the position of all the anchors and all seem to be into the canvas, not outside the page..

I don't know what else to try 😢, so I've sent you my file through the dropbox link you sent me yesterday.

Thank you very much for your kind and precious help and support.

Andrea

[Andrea00]

Dear @NathanC,

 

I've just sent you another version of my file.

After multiple attempts, I think I've figured out what was the problem:

- in the first file I sent to you, apparently page 5 has dimensions so big that doesn't support hyperlinks in such a huge canvas (so Mr @walt.farrell was right when told me the problem is page 5 and helped me to focalise my efforts to the right page)

- in the second file, redesigning page 5, I've reduced the dimensions of the canvas (page 5 remains very big, 6.000mm x 10.000mm, vertical, but smaller than the previous version) , and now I managed to export the document to pdf including hyperlinks.

 

Since I'm designing a document with  very huge pages (it's meant for digital consultation, digital dashboards, lessons, etc, not for printing), I would really appreciate if you can have a look at the two documents:

- can you please let me know if the problem was the dimension of page 5, as I suspect? (I cannot export the fist document I sent you to pdf with hyperlinks, and I managed to export the second document I sent you to pdf with hyperlinks. In the second document I modified page 5, as you can see)

- since I need huge pages, what is the maximum dimension of the page that support hyperlinks in terms of mm X mm (vertical / horizontal)? This piece of information will help me  very much while designing my pages with that limits in mind

- seems that in my two document there's a persistent error in the table of contents that I can't find out and correct. What could it be?

 

Thank you very much, I really appreciate your help.

 

Andrea

[NathanC]

Hi @Andrea00,

Apologies on the late reply,

- The problem was caused by the page dimensions on page 5. Although your document is now exporting correctly you may still run into issues with opening the PDF, Acrobat warned that the page size was too large and areas will need to be truncated. If you're strictly using the file for digital purposes it may be worth using/exporting with a lower DPI of 72 instead of your original 300, as this reduces your page height from a huge ~118,000 pixels to about ~30,000 pixels however this is still very large.

- The PDF export can only handle links that are within 32767 pixels. Again, as previously mentioned using a lower DPI will help prevent you from running in to this issue.

- Unfortunately I couldn't identify what was causing your table of contents issue, as rebuilding the ToC entirely doesn't appear to prevent this preflight error, the error does relate to one of the Title Paragraph 1/2/3 styles.

 

[Andrea00]

Dear @NathanC,

 

thank you very much for your help.

1 hour ago, NathanC said:

- The problem was caused by the page dimensions on page 5. Although your document is now exporting correctly you may still run into issues with opening the PDF, Acrobat warned that the page size was too large and areas will need to be truncated.

Thank you for verifying that the problem is page dimensions on page 5.

I'm aware that adobe acrobat (even though it is a great pdf reader) has strict limitations regarding page dimensions. Luckily there are a bunch of other types of software that are more suitable for me and for those who will use my work.

For example I use pdf expert (readdle) which
- supports extremely well documents with huge pages
- supports comments, hyperlinks, sketches, bookmarks, etc
- works perfectly in combination with affinity and apple ecosystem. I have purchased affinity publisher (Mac), photo (Mac + iPad) and designer (Mac + iPad) + pdf expert (Mac + iPad + iPhone). With a really honest expense, I experience a wonderful and powerful multi-platform workflow, with the ability to create, modify and view documents with such huge pages. Acrobat suite would cost more (much more!) and its pdf viewer (including the expansive pro version) wouldn't be able to open my document. Furthermore my workflow will be even more awesome with affinity publisher for iPad (I'm really glad that affinity publisher for iPad is almost here). This means a lot for me: for example it would let me open my huge document, make some last minute changes, export my document, use it in pdf expert (streaming it, projecting it, etc), indifferently using either my iPad Pro (for example when travelling) or my Mac (when I'm at home)

- to those who need to view my document I also recommend chrome browser: it can open pdf files and its pdf viewer is pretty powerful and speedy, and can easily open a huge document (I've already tried to open my full affinity publisher document, exported to pdf digital high quality with hyperlinks, and chrome works pretty well with my document and its hyperlinks (I've made a screenshot as you can see)

 

1 hour ago, NathanC said:

If you're strictly using the file for digital purposes it may be worth using/exporting with a lower DPI of 72 instead of your original 300, as this reduces your page height from a huge ~118,000 pixels to about ~30,000 pixels however this is still very large.

- The PDF export can only handle links that are within 32767 pixels. Again, as previously mentioned using a lower DPI will help prevent you from running in to this issue.

Thank you very much for your suggestion. I'll keep in mind that exporting with a lower DPI is a way to reduce page height in terms of pixels.

I confirm that my file is only for digital purpose (the purpose of such huge pages is to substitute a "page layout" - with its traditional black and white, identical, pages - with a visualisation and memorisation of whole and complex procedures, taking advantage of mind mapping and visual memory).

1 hour ago, NathanC said:

- Unfortunately I couldn't identify what was causing your table of contents issue, as rebuilding the ToC entirely doesn't appear to prevent this preflight error, the error does relate to one of the Title Paragraph 1/2/3 styles.

Thank you very much for trying to identify the problem with my table of contents.

Maybe I made some mistakes designing title 1/2/3 (I don't have any education in design and publishing; what I know is self-tough and I work in a different field, where all the publications are those classical black and white huge manuals with hundreds of identical pages. So, it's undeniable that my documents are not so perfect and well-finished, and it's undeniable that I have made multiple mistakes and errors. But I don't give up, since I really think that affinity publisher has unblocked for me so many possibilities and powerful solutions. Now word, pages, office seem so limited to me.. I hope I'll keep on improving with affinity publisher).

 

Thank you very much for your patience and help.

 

Best regards

 

Andrea