Do Ebook Conversions Retain Hyperlinks?

[mrniceguy]

I'm creating my book in Microsoft Word. There are hyperlinks in the book that will take the reader to my website for supplemental information.

When the .doc gets converted to .pdf, .epub, .mobi, and .txt, will it retain the hyperlinks? Will they still work?

Thanks!

[frostschutz]

epubs may contain hyperlinks, yes, but ereaders may not necessarily be able to follow them. hyperlinks are sometimes used for footnotes (one link goes to the footnote and another takes you back to where you came from), but not all readers support that either.

better to put down the URL verbatim like you would do with regular printed books

so do <a href="http://yoururl">http://yoururl</a> instead of <a>Click here!</a>

[dwig]

Originally Posted by mrniceguy

...When the .doc gets converted to .pdf, .epub, .mobi, and .txt, will it retain the hyperlinks? Will they still work?

Yes, no, and definitely maybe...

Will they retain hyperlinks? - depends on the conversion tool(s) used and the destination format. Its quite possible for links to be exported as true links to PDF, EPUB, and MOBI. TXT does not support links, but its possible that some tools would include the link data as plain text either preceding or following the text that had the link associated with it in the original DOC.

Will they work? - depends on the conversion tool(s) used and on the nature of the link. PDF supports internal links (those pointing to the other locations in the same document) and external web links, though Adobe's reader software is often configured to deny such external requests for security reasons. MOBI supports only internal links; external links could be embedded into the file but they will not function with any of the currently available readers AFAIK. EPUB supports internal links and most readers do also. Someone else will have to address what support is out there for external links in EPUB.

[RandyACook]

I use an extensive number of hyperlinks in my books. The Vortex is a DDC (Decision Driven Content) or CYOA (Choose Your Own Adventure) type book. While the ePUB and Mobi formats do support hyper linking, there are some tricks to using them depending on the software that you use to generate the end file. Not all conversion programs are equal. The use of hyperlinks is also heavily dependent on the eReading device. While most eReaders (all that I have tested) do support internal linking (jumps that are to other pages within the file), many do NOT support external links to the web or other ePUB or Mobi files. Your best bet is to ask the maker of the conversion software what the requirements for hyper linking are using thier software and to test, test, test on as many different readers as possible. Hope this helps.

[jrlewis]

I build my Epubs and Mobis in Calibre, and never have any trouble with HTML links. I always check them on my Kindle and they always launch my web pages correctly. So I can recommend Calibre to make sure they appear and function correctly.