We have several products that were developed in InDesign CS2, all loaded with hyperlinks. We had made PDFs from these documents using Acrobat 8.0 and the internal "chapter" links worked fine. We then upgraded to Adobe Acrobat 9.0, and still the PDF links worked. Then we upgraded our InDesign to CS4. PDFs were made in Adobe 9.0, but links didn't work! Acrobat seemed to be looking for a "default" link designation: Our link path consisted of the server name (mapped to our "P:" drive), followed with specific folder and file location for the link. The default location Adobe seemed to be looking for was "I:\data\ (followed by the correct folder and file location)." One person tried to outsmart this default designation by actually putting our files on our own "I:" drive, to match the default link being produced. In return we got a duplicate link designation: "I:\data\ (followed by the correct folder and file location)\data (followed by the correct folder and file location)" -- absolutely insane!
I'm a "non-techie" so please bear with me. Several questions come to mind:
1. Is there a problem with our server "mapping" and why would Adobe reject our "P:" server ID and throw in an "I:\data" in its place? Would there be certain alpha server designations that Adobe doesn't play well with, or local servers it has trouble reading? 2. Are there compatibility issues caused by upgrading from InDesign CS2, skipping CS3, and going on to a CS4 upgrade? If we had an interim upgrade to CS3, would CS2 links have had a problem? 3. there be problems with the way our ID CS4 and Adobe Acrobat 9.0 packages were installed? If IT used an installation "Wizard" and a basic install for each, should there have been specific requirements (or plugins) enabled that would accommodate our hyperlink needs?
With no solution at hand, we're forced to manually remake all our product links in our upgraded CS4 documents. Should we fear further InDesign upgrades? Is there a magic pill or patch that would cure our hyperlinking woes?
Please help!
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8/20/09
NOTE: I just read about a problem a user was having with hyperlinks and Adobe Acrobat 7.0 I realize the scenario is a bit different, but the problem sounds similar:
Acrobat 7.0 and Adobe Reader 7.0 search only web servers for PDF files that are linked to Office documents via hyperlinks. Acrobat 7.0.5 and Adobe Reader 7.0.5 search web servers, local drives, and shared drives for linked PDF files. I'm wondering if possibly the same thing isn't happening with 9.0. Perhaps that's why we keep seeing the default "I:\data" link location popping up. If this "is" the case, does anyone know of an upgrade, patch, or possibly a plug-in or setting that would let 9.0 look for links on local drives?