Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 1, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021
Abdullah has a Word document that has a few MP4 files embedded within it. He needs to convert this Word document to a PDF file, but when he does, the MP4 files are no longer available. He wonders if there is a way to create the PDF and have the MP4 files still accessible (and usable) within it, just as was possible with Word.
Word is great at allowing you to create documents that have non-document objects (such as Abdullah's MP4 video files or MP3 audio files) embedded in them. It is not so great at getting those objects converted into a different format, such as a PDF file. Of course, the same can be said for using the Adobe Acrobat add-in for Word—it doesn't transfer MP4 (or MP3) files to the final PDF either.
There are two possible solutions to this issue. First, you may want to change how you include your MP4 in the document. Instead of embedding the actual MP4 in the document (which can make the document insanely large), you might upload the MP4 to a publicly available online service. Then you can include a URL in your document to that MP4. Such links transfer to PDF files just fine.
The second potential solution is to go ahead and create the PDF from your Word document, but then open the PDF in Acrobat and use the tools in that program to add the media files. (These are available in Acrobat using the Rich Media tools.) This may seem like double work, but it will give you a much more usable PDF file. The drawback, of course, is that you will need a copy of Adobe Acrobat to modify the PDF in this way.
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