Hyperlink Stumper

Apr 26, 2014

Here's the setup:

I have screen text in PPT 2010 that's been highlighted and had a web hyperlink applied. This is in a content placeholder and NOT grouped with anything else. In PPT's presentation mode, I can move my cursor over any portion of the text (in blue and underlined), and the cursor changes from an arrow to a hand (with the index finger extended). Also, if clicked, the hyperlink hits the intended target.

So far so good. In Articulate Presenter 13 preview mode, of course the hyperlink will not work as far as hitting the intended target. But when hovering the cursor over any part the hyperlink, the cursor again changes from an arrow to a hand. This at least tells me that the hyperlink is RECOGNIZED as a hyperlink.

Again, so far, so good.

I publish for web delivery, and upload the published files to my server. During testing, I find that when I hover my cursor over the blue, underlined hyperlink, that the arrow does not change to a hand EXCEPT in for the first two characters at the beginning of the hyperlinked test.. So only part of the hyperlinked text is being recognized as a hyperlink.

A second hyperlink in the presentation, created the same standard way, is also weird. In this case, the first ten characters of the hyperlink are recognized as such, but the last nine characters are not.

I went back to my published files on my local hard drive, opened the presentation there, and had the same behavior.

I shut down, rebooted, republished, etc. with no change in the outcome.

The interim fix I'll apply is to put a transparent shape over the hyperlinked text, and apply the hyperlink to the shape. But this is so odd that it's really becoming a distraction.

Any ideas from the group (or tech support)?

10 Replies
Nancy Woinoski

I just created a new  project and created two hyperlinks and they both worked. For the first one I selected all of the text in the text box and then clicked the Insert Hyperlink option - for this one all the text is blue and underlined and works when published.

For the second one, I just selected the text box (so did not highlight any text within the box) and then clicked the Insert Hyperlink option - this also works to create a hyperlink but not of the text is blue or underlined.

Not sure if this helps you in anyway but it is something that I noticed.

Dave Neuweiler

Nancy Woinoski said:

I just created a new  project and created two hyperlinks and they both worked. For the first one I selected all of the text in the text box and then clicked the Insert Hyperlink option - for this one all the text is blue and underlined and works when published.

For the second one, I just selected the text box (so did not highlight any text within the box) and then clicked the Insert Hyperlink option - this also works to create a hyperlink but not of the text is blue or underlined.

Not sure if this helps you in anyway but it is something that I noticed.


Thanks Nancy. I created a new PPT and PPTA and tried to duplicate the problem, but could not do so -- even when copying and pasting the entire PPT placeholder containing the hyperlinks into the new PowerPoint. That seems to eliminate the PowerPoint alone as the troublemaker.

I'm thinking on what all of these clues may mean. Right now, I'm wondering whether it's something in the PPTA file that's causing this. Maybe the "fix" is to just delete the PPTA file and create a new one. I've not yet added the voiceover, so I don't think I'd lose too much work if I did that.

Dave Neuweiler

Update 1: I tried deleting the PPTA file. There was no change in the performance of the hyperlinks in the published content.

Update 2: Reused the presentations slides in a new PPT file, as prescribed for fixing a corrupt PPTX file. Again, no change in the performance of the hyperlinks in the published content.

The only hair left to pull are the eyebrows ...

Nancy Woinoski

Don't pull out your eyebrows. . Have you tried deleting the offending text and adding it back in again before adding the hyperlinks?

At this point it might be a good idea to open a support case with Articulate. If you are up against the gun on the project, I would put transparent shapes over the text and add the hyperlinks to the shapes as you suggested earlier.

Dave Neuweiler

Dave Neuweiler said:

Thanks again, Nancy. Yes, I've deleted the text to be hyperlinked completely and re-typed them by hand.

I've just opened a support case, and the Articulate Package is uploading now.

I'll let you know what turns up.

Best Regards,

Dave


Customer Support Engineer Gren spotted the problem for me. It turns out that I had an image with a transparent background which covered parts of the hyperlinks. Even though the images were set to fade out before the text appeared, the fact that the images were on the top layer caused the problem. The solution was simply to move the text containing the hyperlinks to the top level.

Another great job by the support team!

PS -- I tested the same scenario in Presenter '09, and the hyperlinks work fine, even when covered by an image that is set to fade out and expose the text to be hyperlink. So this issue is unique to Presenter '13, and I'd think Storyline as well.

This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.