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How to Add a Hyperlink to a PDF for Free: Insert Clickable Links

· 6 min read

Quick summary: To add a hyperlink to a PDF for free on Mac, open it in Preview, select the text you want to link, right-click → Add Link, type the URL, and press Enter. On Windows, open the PDF in LibreOffice Draw (free), select the text, go to Insert → Hyperlink, enter the URL, and export back to PDF. For a quick one-off, a free online PDF editor can add links without any install.

Adding a hyperlink to a PDF makes text clickable — useful for digital reports, ebooks, academic papers, and any PDF shared electronically. PDF hyperlinks can point to a website URL, an email address, or another page within the same document. After adding links, you can upload the PDF to our free AI PDF reader to verify the content.

How to add a hyperlink to a PDF on Mac — Preview

Preview supports basic URL link insertion directly:

  1. Open the PDF in Preview.
  2. Click the Markup Toolbar button (pencil icon) or go to View → Show Markup Toolbar.
  3. Use the text selection tool to select the text you want to make into a link (or click to place the cursor where you want a new link).
  4. Right-click the selected text → “Add Link”.
  5. Type or paste the full URL (e.g., https://example.com) into the link field.
  6. Press Enter or click outside the field to confirm.
  7. The text now appears underlined and clickable.
  8. File → Save (Cmd+S) to save.

To edit or remove a link: Right-click the linked text → “Edit Link” to change the URL, or “Remove Link” to delete it.

Limitation: Preview only supports external URL links. For internal page links (linking to another page within the same PDF) or email links (mailto:), use LibreOffice Draw or another tool below.

How to add a hyperlink to a PDF on Windows — LibreOffice Draw (free)

LibreOffice Draw is the most capable free tool for adding links to PDFs on Windows:

  1. Download and install LibreOffice from libreoffice.org.
  2. Open LibreOffice Draw.
  3. Go to File → Open and select the PDF.
  4. LibreOffice imports the PDF — each page becomes an editable canvas.
  5. Select the text or object you want to hyperlink (double-click a text box to enter edit mode, then select the text).
  6. Go to Insert → Hyperlink (or press F4).
  7. In the Hyperlink dialog:
    • Internet: Enter a URL for a webpage link.
    • Mail & News: Enter an email address for a mailto: link.
    • Document: Link to another file or a specific page/named target in the same PDF.
    • New Document: Create a link to a new document.
  8. Click Apply then Close.
  9. Export back to PDF: File → Export as PDF → click Export.

Note: LibreOffice Draw imports PDFs as vector graphics — text reflow is possible, but complex layouts may need repositioning after import.

Several free browser-based PDF editors support link insertion:

  1. Search for “add hyperlink to PDF free online.”
  2. Upload your PDF.
  3. Use the link/URL tool to draw a box over the text or area you want clickable.
  4. Enter the destination URL.
  5. Download the updated PDF.

Privacy note: Your file is uploaded to a remote server. Do not use online tools for confidential documents.

TypeWhat it links toExample
URL linkAny webpagehttps://example.com
Email linkOpens a compose windowmailto:name@example.com
Internal linkAnother page in the same PDFPage 5, Chapter 3
File linkAnother file on diskOpens a linked document

URL links are the most common. Internal links (also called bookmarks or cross-references) are useful in long documents to let readers jump to sections. Email links auto-open the user’s mail client with the address pre-filled.

How to add an internal page link (link to another page in the PDF)

LibreOffice Draw

  1. Open the PDF in LibreOffice Draw.
  2. Select the text to link.
  3. Go to Insert → Hyperlink → Document tab.
  4. In the “Target in document” field, enter the page number or named destination (e.g., #page=5).
  5. Click Apply → Export as PDF.

Creating named destinations first

For reliable internal links, create named anchors at the destination first. This is easier to do in the source document (Word, Google Docs, InDesign) before converting to PDF, using heading styles and bookmarks that map to PDF named destinations on export.

How to make existing text in a PDF clickable

If the PDF already contains URLs as plain text (e.g., https://example.com typed but not clickable):

  1. In Preview (Mac): The text is already a link if it starts with https:// — Preview auto-detects URLs and makes them clickable on hover. If it does not, highlight the text → right-click → Add Link.
  2. In LibreOffice Draw: Select the URL text → Insert → Hyperlink → paste the same URL as both the display text and the target → Apply.
  3. In Adobe Acrobat Reader: Acrobat Reader cannot add links — you need Acrobat Pro or a free alternative.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Yes. Preview on Mac and LibreOffice Draw on Windows both add hyperlinks for free without Adobe. Online tools also work without any software install.

Yes — PDF hyperlinks are part of the PDF standard and work in any PDF viewer that supports interactivity: Adobe Acrobat Reader, Preview, Edge, Chrome, and most mobile PDF apps. Some very basic viewers may not activate links.

In Preview (Mac): right-click the linked text → “Remove Link”. In LibreOffice Draw: select the linked text → Insert → Hyperlink → delete the URL field → Apply. For PDFs with many links, a dedicated PDF editor handles batch link removal more efficiently.

Yes. In LibreOffice Draw, click the image to select it → Insert → Hyperlink → enter the URL → Apply. The entire image becomes a clickable link. Preview on Mac only supports linking text, not images.

Common causes: (1) the URL is missing the protocol — write https://example.com, not just example.com; (2) the PDF was flattened after adding the link, converting it to a static image; (3) the PDF viewer does not support interactive elements — test in Acrobat Reader or a browser.

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