Add Clickable Links to a PDF

Internal links (jump links) navigate within the same PDF using PDF 'GoTo' actions—click 'See Section 3' and jump to page 8. External links open websites using PDF 'URI' actions—click 'Buy Now' and open your product page. Our tool supports both types, making PDFs fully interactive with navigation and web connectivity.

Absolutely! This is one of the most popular use cases. Upload your catalog PDF, draw bounding boxes over product images or 'Learn More' buttons, and link them to your website product pages. Customers can browse your PDF catalog offline, then click to view details and purchase online. E-commerce brands use this for digital catalogs, lookbooks, and buyer guides.

Draw a bounding box over any area—text, images, or empty space—to create a clickable button. Customize the box color and opacity to make it look like a button (e.g., blue with 30% opacity), or set transparency to 0 for invisible click areas. Link to internal pages or external URLs. Perfect for call-to-action buttons in marketing PDFs.

Yes! Links are live as soon as you create them, no separate preview mode needed. Click any source box in the editor to see where it jumps to, or hover an external link to see its URL. Verify everything works before clicking Create Links to export.

Yes! PDF hyperlinks follow the ISO 32000 PDF specification standard and work universally across all platforms: Adobe Acrobat/Reader, Apple Preview, Chrome PDF viewer, Firefox, Edge, Safari, Foxit Reader, mobile apps (iOS/Android), and web-based PDF viewers. Your links will work everywhere.

Absolutely! Click any link in the list panel to edit its label, description, color, destination, or URL. Delete individual links or clear all links at once. The tool includes auto-save (every 30 seconds) and unlimited undo/redo (Ctrl/Cmd + Z), so you can experiment without losing work.

Perfect for lawyers! (1) Draw a box over 'See Exhibit A' text in your contract, (2) navigate to the exhibit page (e.g., page 47), (3) draw a destination box. Readers click 'See Exhibit A' and jump directly to the exhibit. Also works for section references ('See § 4(b)'), footnotes, schedules, and definitions. Built for interactive legal PDFs.

Yes! This is increasingly expected in academic PDFs. Draw small boxes around citation numbers like [3] or (Smith, 2023), then link them to the bibliography entry. Readers click [3] and jump directly to reference #3. Takes about 15-20 seconds per citation.

Free users get 10 links per PDF — enough for most documents. Sign up for a free account to unlock unlimited links with a 2-month Pro trial (no credit card). Each link adds only ~100 bytes, so even 100+ links increase file size by less than 10KB.

Press '?' to see all shortcuts. Most useful: Ctrl/Cmd + Z (undo), Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Z (redo), Ctrl/Cmd + S (save now), Ctrl/Cmd +/- (zoom in/out), Esc (cancel current link), Delete (remove selected link). Shortcuts speed up workflow for documents with many links.

No! Our tool is completely browser-based and free. Adobe Acrobat Pro costs $239/year and requires software installation. We provide the same hyperlink creation capability (internal + external) for free, with a visual interface that's easier to use. Works instantly in any modern browser—no installation required.

Yes! Create an external link and paste the shareable Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or Box URL. Readers click and their browser opens the cloud file. Useful for linking supporting documents, data files, presentation slides, or multimedia resources that are too large to embed in the PDF.

Absolutely! PDF hyperlinks work on all devices—desktop, tablet, and mobile. Whether readers use iOS (Apple Books, Adobe Reader mobile), Android (Google Drive, Adobe Reader), or mobile browsers, your links work perfectly. Internal navigation and external URLs both function universally.

Event programs are perfect for interactive PDFs! Link schedule entries to session details (internal links), speaker names to bios (internal), 'Register' buttons to registration forms (external URLs), venue names to Google Maps (external), and sponsor logos to their websites (external). Attendees love the convenience of clickable programs.

PDF annotations don't natively support click analytics. However, for external links, use trackable short URLs with bit.ly, UTM parameters, or your analytics platform. Example: link to 'https://yoursite.com/product?utm_source=pdf&utm_campaign=catalog' to track conversions in Google Analytics. This works for measuring PDF marketing effectiveness.

Hyperlinks add minimal size—typically 50-150 bytes per link. A PDF with 50 links might increase by ~5-8KB total (less than 1% for most PDFs). The bounding box coordinates and destination data are very compact. Your file size will barely change, even with many links.

Yes — 10 hyperlinks per PDF are completely free, no sign-up needed. Want unlimited links? Create a free account to get a 2-month Pro trial (no credit card). No restrictions on file size or page count.

Yes — click "Auto-Build TOC" in the toolbar. If your PDF already has a contents page, we detect it, read each entry's page number, and add the clickable links for you. If it doesn't have one, we detect your document's headings and generate a brand-new contents page with links already wired up, previewing the detected headings before anything is built. Auto-detected links are flagged for a quick review, so you're always in control before finishing. Prefer full manual control? Draw box over entry → navigate to section → draw destination still works exactly as before — about 20-30 seconds per link.

Pick based on what you can already SEE in the document. If you can find a page that literally says "Table of Contents" or "Contents" with a list of entries and page numbers, choose "My PDF already has a contents page" — we'll read that existing page and link each entry to its real page. If there's no such page anywhere in the PDF, choose "My PDF has no contents page" — we'll scan your document's headings and build a brand-new contents page from scratch. If you're not sure, try "already has a contents page" first; if it comes back empty, the tool will point you to the other option.

You don't need ANY coding skills! That's the whole point of our visual editor. No coordinates, no code, no complexity. Just: (1) Upload PDF, (2) Click and drag to draw boxes (like PowerPoint), (3) Enter URL or click destination. If you can upload a file and use a mouse, you can create interactive PDFs with our tool.