Remove Hyperlinks

Quick Answer: Remove Hyperlinks takes clickable links out of a PDF. A hyperlink is text, often blue and underlined, that opens a website when you click it. After this tool, the words stay, but clicking them does nothing. You use it when a file will be printed, read offline, or shared without live links.

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What it does, in plain words

A link inside a PDF is useful on screen. You click it, and a website opens. It is not useful on paper. On a printed page, a blue underlined web address is just ink. It can also be a risk. An old link may point to a website that has changed, or to a page you no longer want readers to visit. Removing links solves both problems at once.

This tool is careful. It removes only links. It does not remove your main text, your comments, or your highlights. The words that used to be links stay on the page, so your sentences still read correctly. Only the click action goes away. That is the difference between this tool and Remove Annotations. Remove Annotations takes off comments and highlights. Remove Hyperlinks takes off only the clickable links.

How to use Remove Hyperlinks — step by step

Open the Remove Hyperlinks tool on PDFOnlineEditor.
Choose the PDF that has links you do not want to be clickable.
Click the process or remove button. You do not need to click each link yourself.
Download the result and open it on a computer. Move your mouse over a word that used to be a link. The pointer should not change, and no web address should appear.
If you have comments or highlights you want to keep, check that they are still there. This tool should not remove them.

A worked example

Bilal has a guide that will be printed for a workshop. The guide has ten links to websites. On paper, those links are useless, and one link points to an old page that no longer exists. He uses this tool to remove clickable links from pdf before printing. He opens the result, hovers over each old link, and finds that none of them is clickable any more. The words are still there, so the sentences still make sense. He prints the guide, and no reader is sent to a dead or unwanted page.

The same job applies when you need to strip external links from a pdf for offline reading. Readers on a plane, or in a classroom with no internet, should not be promised a website they cannot open.

What to check before you send it

Every old link. Hover over each one. None should be clickable, and no web address should pop up.
Your comments and highlights. If you had any, they should still be there. If they are gone, you used the wrong tool, or the wrong file.
The main text. Read one page. No words should be missing where a link used to be.
The page count. It should be the same as before. Removing links should not remove pages.

3 common mistakes

Removing links from a file people will read on screen. If readers need to click through to a source, keep the links. Remove them only for print or offline use.
Checking only the first link. A file can have links on many pages. Check each page that had a link.
Forgetting that the web address may still be printed as text. If the address itself is written out, like www.example.com, readers can still type it. Remove or replace that text in the source file if you need it fully gone.

Honest limits — please read this

Live check, 27 October 2026: this tool was tested on the live site with a file containing Link, Text and Highlight annotations. Only the Link was removed, and the Text comment and Highlight were kept. Still, open the output and hover over every old link yourself before you print or share it. A password-protected file will not work until you unlock your own copy first. A scanned file has no real clickable links in the same way, because its pages are pictures, so this tool will not make its text searchable. A very large file can be slow on a phone.

Frequently asked questions

What is a hyperlink, in simple words?

A hyperlink is clickable text or a clickable picture that opens a website, or jumps to another page, when you click it. It is often blue and underlined.

Will the words disappear when I remove a hyperlink?

No. The words stay on the page. Only the click action is removed, so your sentences still read correctly.

Is this the same as removing comments?

No. Removing comments takes off notes and highlights. Removing hyperlinks takes off only links, and it keeps comments and highlights.

Related tools

Original Remove Hyperlinks tool • PDF Guides • Support: support@pdfonlineeditor.com