Your Word doc has hyperlinks throughout — references to source material, internal cross-links, mailto: links to your contact email. You convert to PDF, send it on, and the recipient says "none of the links work." That's not the PDF's fault — usually.
How hyperlinks transfer
Flint's Word to PDF preserves hyperlinks as clickable PDF annotations. Click in the PDF, open the URL in a browser. Works in every modern PDF viewer.
This applies to web links, email links, internal document cross-references (table of contents to chapter), and bookmarks.
Check your source Word doc first
If links don't work in the PDF, check the Word doc. A hyperlink in Word is text styled to look like a link — but the actual link target lives in the underlying field. If your Word doc shows a URL as plain text without underline styling, it's probably not a real link.
To add a real link: select the text, Insert > Link, paste the URL. Then convert.
Internal cross-references
Cross-references within Word (page references, figure references, heading references) convert to internal PDF links. Click in the PDF and the viewer jumps to the target. This includes the Table of Contents if Word's auto-generated TOC was used.
Manually-typed page numbers don't become links. Use References > Cross-reference for proper internal linking.
Email and mailto: links
Email links open the recipient's default mail client. Same applies to tel: links for phone numbers (rare in documents but supported). Both convert correctly through the standard conversion flow.
FAQ
Why are my links not clickable in the PDF?
Usually the source Word doc had plain text rather than real hyperlinks. Add the links via Insert > Link first, then re-convert.
Will table of contents links work?
Yes, if the TOC was generated by Word's References > Table of Contents feature. Manually-typed contents don't have link targets.
What about cross-references to bookmarks?
Preserved. Bookmark targets become navigation anchors in the PDF.
Can I edit links in the PDF afterwards?
Yes — Flint's PDF editor lets you add, edit, and remove links in any PDF.
Links in, links out, clickable. Convert your Word to PDF without losing them.