Anchor on image doesn't allow a PDF export

[KristaM]

Hello! I'm trying to export a pdf that has anchors on images, which seems allowed, since the publisher let me apply them. Now I have a file with a bunch of hyperlinks to images, and I can't export it. I've submitted a file of the PDF log for 2 pages that have almost no content, but have an image that prevents an export. The only I can think to do is move the anchors to hidden text and redo all of my hyperlinks, which is about 8 hours of work. This is the second publication where I will have had to undo and redo every single hyperlink in the text, and I just don't have time to do that this round.

This is preventing from submitting a publication this upcoming week.

Thanks!

PDFLib.log

[MikeTO]

Hi Krista, the most likely culprit is a malformed hyperlink. It can be tedious, but check each hyperlink and scan it for errors.

I know v2 had some new hyperlink bugs that tripped up exporting to PDF, such as a trailing space. I don't believe those issues were ever in v1 but it could be something as simple as that. If any of the hyperlinks are significantly more complex than others, check those first.

If you don't know where to start, one trick is to make a backup copy of your document and export blocks of pages. Export the first half and if that doesn't work, export half of that. Keep exporting smaller blocks of pages until you find the offending hyperlink(s).

Good luck

[KristaM]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've done the trick with exporting certain pages, which is how I isolated the issue to the image with the anchor. As far as I can tell, there aren't any hyperlinks in the file I submitted, which gives the log of the pdf export with errors. There is just a single image with an anchor on new pages that I added to the file just to test on.

[walt.farrell]

From the log file, you are getting this error:

PDF_create_action(p_0x2e172d530, "GoTo", "destination {page 1 type fixed left -274.56 top 940.56}")
[Last exception 1416 in PDF_create_action]["Value -274.56 for option 'left' is too small (minimum 0)"]

That suggests that you may have an object that extends off the page, to the left of the page edge, that you're trying to link to. And it may be on page 1.

[KristaM]

I'll check this out. I'll try things in a fresh doc too. I'll post any updates that I have. Thanks!

[KristaM]

Hello! I've made a completely new blank file and copied a single image to it. If there is no anchor on the image, everything is fine. If I add an anchor, there is an issue. It seems like adding the anchor is the issue. Please let me know if there is anyway else to test this.

PDFLibTestWithAnchor.log PDFLibTestWithoutAnchor.log

[walt.farrell]

Can you provide that new sample Affinity document, @KristaM?

[KristaM]

Yes! Here is the blank file with the single image. Thanks again for looking into this.

PDFTestFileAchors.afpub

[walt.farrell]

Exporting that works for me, but that could be because I don't have the file you Linked to, or because I don't know what kind of anchor to create.

Can you provide a file that has the "image" file Embedded, and has the anchor?

[KristaM]

Here is the file with the anchor! Thanks again for looking into this

PDFTestFileAchorsWithAnchor.afpub

[KristaM]

Just in case, here are the settings I'm using to export (see screenshot attached)

[DWright]

Can you please try embedding this image as when I replaced the missing image in your document with an embedded one the PDF export was successful.

[KristaM]

Does this mean that every time I have to edit an image, I'll have to copy a new version of it into the doc and recreate the anchor? This would mean I've have to redo all of the hyperlinks to that image every time. I am hoping to have a solution where I'm not constantly redoing hyperlinks. It's a bummer that i can't target an image made in Photo that is linked.

[walt.farrell]

On 11/12/2023 at 7:30 PM, KristaM said:

Does this mean that every time I have to edit an image, I'll have to copy a new version of it into the doc and recreate the anchor? This would mean I've have to redo all of the hyperlinks to that image every time. I am hoping to have a solution where I'm not constantly redoing hyperlinks. It's a bummer that i can't target an image made in Photo that is linked.

I think that @DWright just meant that we need a complete file for testing, and at this point we only have a partial file because you're using a Linked file. If you Embed it, then we will have all the data we need.

Alternatively, you could use File > Save as Package which will generate a .afpackage file and an Images directory, and you could Zip those together and provide the .zip file. But if you still have the problem after you Embed the file, then just giving us that .afpub file is simpler.