Misplaced cross-reference/table of contents links when exporting to PDF

Hello everyone,

I have a Writer document containing a table of contents and cross-references to headings. In Writer, those elements can be clicked as links to the page/heading they refer to.

When exporting to PDF, I would expect the above mentionned elements to behave the same. But, when opening the PDF using a viewer such as Adobe Acrobat Reader DC or Mac OS Preview, the clickable area of the link is severely misplaced relative to the word(s).

The picture above shows a PDF export of a document containing “Please refer to Heading 1.2.1.” where Heading 1.2.1 is a cross-reference link to the related heading. The words “Heading 1.2.1” themselves can’t be clicked, as the clickable area is found elsewehere (i.e. at the very top of the page, as shown by the black rectangle and hand-shaped mouse cursor).

Something similar happens with the table of contents :

Would that be a known issue, is there something I could be doing wrong? Using both 6.4.7.2 and 7.0.1.2 versions of LibreOffice on MacOS 10.15.7.

Thanks for your help !

Please edit your question to attach the sample file with the “paperclip” tool. Note that files can’t be attached to comments and answers here are reserved for solutions.

Under Fedora 33 (Linux), LO 7.0.3.1, Okular PDF viewer, works fine. All links are where they should.

Can’t either see any problem using macOS 11.0.1 (Big Sur), LO 7.0.3.1, macOS Preview / Linux Evince or Okular.

I used a Win 10 PC with LO 7.0.3.1 to export to PDF and it works as intended.

It seems to be related to the settings, as restarting the application in safe mode and reseting my user profile solved the issue. Now working as expected. Thanks for your time !

For the records (according to last comment of OP)_

Reset your LibreOffice user profile using the following procedure:

  • Start LibreOffice
  • Start in Safe Mode using Help -> Restart in Safe Mode and confirm the restart using button: Restart
  • Archive your profile expanding Advanced (click on the word Advanced right above Help button) and click Archive User Profile button
  • Select option Reset to factory settings
  • Activate [x] Reset entire user profile
  • Click button Apply Changes and Restart