Studio 360 -- Can I hyperlink to a .pdf document?

Feb 08, 2021

I cannot figure out how to insert a hyperlink to a .pdf document in Articulate/Studio.  It seems to be an option in Storyline, but I'm using Articulate. Can I do this?

1 Reply
Dave Neuweiler

Hello Nancy, your question reminded me of a PowerPoint issue from several years ago. It has to do with how relative hyperlinks (an example of which is the link described in hyperlinking to a PDF in Storyline) are affected in PowerPoint after publishing with Articulate. Simply put, forward slashes in the link are reversed to backslashes, and therefore no longer work.

I found on old discussion about this in the forums, and here is the link to that: https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-presenter/relative-links-disappearing-ppt-and-presenter

I think the linking in Storyline works because it's not based in PowerPoint.

Now is there a solution? Aside from the workarounds discussed in the old posts, yes, there is. But it requires that your target PDF (or any other file) is present somewhere reachable on the Internet, like a customer's server. You can then insert an absolute hyperlink in your PPT file to point to that location and file. That absolute hyperlink will still work after publishing.

But that option might not be available for all customers. In those cases, I put the file(s) in Resources, and in the presentation, call attention to the fact that there is a resource to download. To accomplish this as seamlessly as possible, I create a tab-like shape that drops down on-screen directly under the Resources Tab in the player. Text is added to the tab-shape such as "A Resource is available."  I sometimes include the name of the resource, and synchronize when the tab flies in with the narration.

I hope that helps!