Caitlin Gannon — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:35:34 GMT

There were a couple of comments in this thread asking how to add hyperlinks to a PDF as it’s generated, so that changes to the wireframes don’t necessitate adding the interactive elements all over again.

Here’s how to do it within Visio:

1. To create a hyperlink on a shape or text area, select the item and press CTRL-K to open the hyperlink dialog.
2. Next to Sub-address (not Address), click Browse and find the page within your wireframe that you want to link to. (Or enter a complete URL next to Address.) Repeat to create all your navigation. Note: these hyperlinks must be on the foreground page, not the background page. To minimize annoyance with revisions, add a group of these navigation elements to the document stencil and do future edits there.
3. Create the PDF using the Adobe PDF menu, not the File>Print>Adobe PDF option.

Not super-elegant, but it works. As Todd said above, we are always having to hack our tools to make things work!

I definitely see the value of using a PDF as a simple prototype, mainly because it can be sent out via email, and it’s easy to keep track of versions (not so with HTML/CSS).

Thanks for a great article—it’s helpful to know more about the interactive options in Acrobat.

Boxes and Arrows: Comments by Caitlin Gannon