When using an internal hyperlink, Acrobat crashes.

[tobi99]

When using an internal hyperlink, Acrobat crashes. 

When I create an internal hyperlink and link to an internal page, Adobe Achrobat crashes ... ?

[GarryP]

Assuming that you are simply reading a PDF in Acrobat…

1. Which Affinity application did you export the PDF from?
2. What version is that Affinity software?
3. What sort of hyperlink did you create in that application?
4. How did you create the hyperlink?
5. What type of layer/thing does the hyperlink link to?
6. Do other hyperlinks in the same PDF work?
7. Do other hyperlinks of the same type in that PDF work?
8. Are you reading the PDF on the same machine where you exported the PDF?
9. Is Acrobat updated to the latest version? If not, which version are you using?
10. Is Windows updated to the latest version, and either way, which version are you using?
11. What do you mean by Acrobat “crashes”? Any error messages or similar information?
12. Can you supply the document, and/or PDF, or maybe a cut-down version containing just the page with the hyperlink on it and the page it links to?

[tobi99]

Many thanks for the quick response

 

1. Which Affinity application did you export the PDF from?
   -> Affinity Publisher 2
    
2. What version is that Affinity software?
   -> 2.3.1
    
3. What sort of hyperlink did you create in that application?
   -> link to page or link to anchor... it doesn't matter, it always crashes. Type of link doesn't matter
    
4. How did you create the hyperlink?
   -> interactive – insert hyperlink
    
5. What type of layer/thing does the hyperlink link to?
   -> textlink or image... it doesn't matter, it always crashes. Type of link doesn't matter
    
6. Do other hyperlinks in the same PDF work?
   -> No
    
7. Do other hyperlinks of the same type in that PDF work?
   -> No
    
8. Are you reading the PDF on the same machine where you exported the PDF?
   -> I tested it on different PCs
    
9. Is Acrobat updated to the latest version? If not, which version are you using?
   -> Yes, Version 23.8.20470.0
    
10. Is Windows updated to the latest version, and either way, which version are you using?
    -> Yes, I tested it on various PCs with Windows 10 and 11
     
11. What do you mean by Acrobat “crashes”? Any error messages or similar information?
    -> Acrobat simply closes or crashes after clicking on a link
     
12. Can you supply the document, and/or PDF, or maybe a cut-down version containing just the page with the hyperlink on it and the page it links to?
    -> attached the file test

test.afpub test.pdf

[GarryP]

Thanks for the extra information and the files.

(Both of your hyperlinks have the same target but I’m assuming that this is not relevant to this issue.)

I’ve just tried exporting from Publisher 2.3.1 on Windows 10 to a PDF (with your export settings) and Acrobat (2023.008.20470) crashes in the same way for me too, but only when I don’t give the application a few seconds to ‘get itself in order’ after launch.

If I leave it for about five seconds then it seems fine and I can click on the links for as long as I want (that I have tested).

The same goes for the PDF you attached – early click on link = crash; wait before click and it = doesn’t crash.

Because of that, I’m tending towards it not being a Publisher problem but something to do with Acrobat.

[Dan C]

Thanks for your report @tobi99!

I've tested this here using Acrobat 2023.008.20470 64bit & Windows 10 19045.3930 and I'm not seeing this crashing behaviour currently with your PDF file provided, or the PDF file I've exported from your .afpub file  -

 

However according to the following thread on the Adobe forums, other users are reporting issues with Acrobat following the latest Windows update - 

https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/acrocef-exe-rdrcef-exe-errors-with-acrobat-reader-32-bit-on-latest-update/m-p/14358980

Or issues with interactive PDF forms, which may indicate a corrupted Acrobat installation -

https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/acrobat-interactive-pdf-keeps-crashing/td-p/14356738

You might want to try the advice from the above threads regarding the Acrobat repair tool, or editing your Registry keys if you feel comfortable doing so. Alternatively I'd recommend contacting Adobe support, as I don't believe this issue is caused by the Affinity apps at this time.

I hope this helps!

[MichaelS]

I believe this is a generic Acrobat Reader issue (i.e. not relating to Publisher) as I've found frequent crashing on my machine using other software to insert a link into PDFs (since I use Designer, and currently it does not have insert link - BTW it would be good if it did). I found random crashes, and research led me to this link but I think this is for 32-bit Reader users - it did not work for me. I'm using 64-bit Reader, and what I've found seems to overcome this crash issue upon clicking a link in a PDF is to disable Protected Mode at Startup via Menu > Preferences (based on this link Solution 3 which did not work for me). If you're still having crash issues, try unchecking the 'Enable Protected Mode at startup' and probably the 'Protected View setting' should be off (mine was set to off by default). You'll have to restart Reader for the change to come into effect. See how that goes..