PDF links

[CampbellSci]

When I link to a document within my email (a PDF), sometimes the links work and sometimes they don't. Is there a way to have it work consistently?

[William_A]

Hello @CampbellSci ,

Can you elaborate a bit on the links not working? Are you getting any error messages? Or are you not able to see the documents? Or is there a caching error causing some links to open the same document despite actually linking to different ones?

[CampbellSci]

The text with the links look like it's clickable, but when I hover over it, the cursor doesn't change. I click anyway, and nothing happens. And this was happening with the links that appeared near the beginning of the document. Links further down worked just fine. I would have to close and open the page a few times for the links to work.

[William_A]

Hello @CampbellSci ,

It appears this Community profile is associated with an expired trial. Without being able to see the links and campaigns I'm going to be limited in my troubleshooting. Could you please reply to the automated email you receive with the correct account's username? That way I can investigate a bit further.

[PaulaB521]

I'm having this problem as well. I generate a PDF with clickable links (websites, emails). When it's uploaded, the links still look as though they are clickable, but they are not. I've tested the links in various PDF readers before uploading to Constant Contact, so I know they were working before the upload.

[William_A]

Hello @PaulaB521 ,

Your issue is related to the fact that PDFs as the file type can't actually be used for display in emails. As documents, they can only be inserted as links (attached). By default we convert a PDF's first page into an image that can potentially be used as a cover image (or simply deleted prior to upload). Since we don't generally recommend using images for the entirety of emails, it's also why we don't recommend using a full PDF for your email unless absolutely necessary (spam filters tend to treat image-only emails with much more prejudice).

The best practice would be to Have a simple image or cover image to highlight something in the PDF, and then otherwise link it via image, text, or a button.

For more info on creating emails from PDF.

For more info on why image / document-only emails aren't a best practice.

[PaulaB521]

I’m sorry if I wasn’t clear. I am not trying to display he PDF itself (or the JPG that Constant Contact generates) in the email. I am attaching/linking the PDF to a text snippet in my message. When I click on the text, it opens the PDF, but the links in the PDF do not work. Why does linking the document break the links within it? Is her a way to avoid this problem?

Thanks. 

[William_A]

That shouldn't be happening with PDF uploads, @PaulaB521 . Does reuploading your document, or compressing it at all prior to upload fix the internal link issues?

If it doesn't, please email us at social_support(at)constantcontact(dot)com with your username, the name of your campaign, and the name(s) of the affected PDF files. That was we can investigate further. If you could also attach the base PDF file, that'd would be helpful too.