Oxygen XML Forum

Chemistry makes URLs live even when the author's intent was to just display it. I have a URL to a malicious download that I definitely don't want my users clicking. Here's a snippet of DITA source: As there's no xref, I was expecting text, not a live link. How do I force Chemistry to just display a URL?

Hello,

Unfortunately this is not something that we could control.
It is all up to the PDF reader you are using to manage how the links are displayed.
More specific, the PDF reader considers that any string starting with http:// / https:// is a link and treats it accordingly.

I'm afraid we can not intervene in the PDF reader's behavior.
However, most probably you could restrict the address from being followed when the link is clicked even from the PDF reader. Adobe Acrobat Reader for example offers this possibility. You could choose links to restrict either in the Trust Manager from the Acrobat Reader's preferences, or though the dialog that the reader displays when the link is clicked for the first time (Block and remember the action for all PDF documents).

Regards,
Costin

I face this issue often in PDF, and with other products (JIRA, MS Word, etc.). I use spaces to break the protocol and domain away from the rest of the url. Either that, or I give the url without the protocol statement. It's just the sort of thing you have to do when software tries to decide for you how your content will display/behave.

Thanks for the answers, folks. My engineers have suggested URL mangling so that our users won't try to copy&paste the link. That should also kill the live link that the PDF reader generates.