Output a .indd file that contains a cross-reference as HTML, and you\u2019ll see HTML code that looks something like this:<\/p>\n
That empty Why Adobe could not fill the href with the filename + .html is a design decision on their part, and I won\u2019t debate it.<\/p>\n But I can show you how to get around it.<\/p>\n I created a substantial API document for a client, consisting of over 100 files, plus table of contents and a multi-page index. The document is loaded with “See Alsos” implemented as cross-references, each \u201cSee Also\u201d pointing at a separate file. The guide was acceptable as a PDF, but the client wanted an HTML rendition of the same document. As is generally customary, all the HTML files would live in the same directory, and the CSS would live in a different directory at the same hierarchical level as the HTML files. I had no control over where in their server structure the client would choose to put the HTML and CSS \u2014 only the relationship of one to the other.<\/p>\n The issue was how to create the hyperlinked cross-references between HTML files living in the same directory \u2014 all those “See Alsos.”<\/p>\n After confirming that InDesign does not output cross-references as usable links and only as empty hrefs, I turned to InDesign\u2019s Hyperlinks window.<\/p>\n The window is intended as a way for you to insert a hyperlink into a PDF, and it has some restrictions on the choices in the Link To pulldown.<\/p>\n I tested the URL output because it produced the least and most regular file prefix \u2014 just http:\/\/ rather than a full (and varying) pathname. Its output still included that pesky http:\/\/<\/p>\n There were several hundred cross-references in the whole document, but I could manually duplicate each one with a URL Hyperlink. It would be the work of a day or so, but once done, all those links would be in place.<\/p>\n Note:<\/strong> There may be a script way of duplicating the cross-references with Hyperlinks; I didn’t spend the time trying to create one. Doing this process manually also allowed me to see if there were any cases where my method wouldn\u2019t work for me. I didn’t find any.<\/p>\n By good fortune, I had adopted a file naming convention for the book that began each file name with api_. Thus, each hyperlink that InDesign would create would be in the form<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraphs_paragraph-std\"><a href=\"\">
\n<span class=\"bold\">GetData<\/span><\/a><\/code><\/p>\n<a href=\"\"><\/code> is what remains of the cross-reference bookmark, and that spanned-and-bold GetData<\/em> is the text of the linked paragraph \u2014 in this case, a level-1 head that began the file that was being linked-to. It also happened to be the name of the target file.<\/p>\nIt\u2019s a Big Book<\/h2>\n
InDesign Already Creates HTML Hyperlinks<\/h2>\n
![\"InDesign](\"http:\/\/jeff-walden.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/hyperlinks.png\")
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http:\/\/<\/code> and produces an <a href=<\/code> in the HTML file. This choice is meant to link to a website, not to a web page. In my case, I couldn\u2019t dictate that each file from the book have its own URL or dictate the structure from http:\/\/<\/code> down.<\/li>\n<a href=<\/code> in the HTML file that links to a file on the local machine or server. It prefixes the file name with a full pathname. (C:\\users\\documents, etc.).<\/li>\n<p class=\"paragraphs_paragraph-std\"><a href=\"http:\/\/test_link.html\">
\n<span class=\"Hyperlink\">Test Link<\/span><\/a><\/p><\/code><\/p>\nLight Dawns Over Marblehead<\/h2>\n
<a href=\"http:\/\/api_getdata<\/a>.html\">GetData<\/a><\/code><\/p>\n