TLDR fix: add `-dPrinted=false` "This was a bug fix, the behaviour previously was incorrect, now it is as intended. The Annotations in your PDF file have no /Flags entry, in the absence of that, the default value (0) is used.
This means that bit 3 of the Flags value is 0, from the PDF Reference: 3 Print (PDF 1.2) If set, print the annotation when the page is printed. If clear, never print the annotation, regardless of whether it is displayed on the screen. This can be useful, for example, for annotations representing interactive pushbuttons, which would serve no meaningful purpose on the printed page. (See implementation note 83 in Appendix H.) The default behaviour of the Ghostscript PDF interpreter is to be a printer. Since these annotations do not have any effect on a printer, they are dropped. If you add to the command line -dPrinted=false then the PDF interpreter behaves as a display device instead. Because these annotations don't have NoView set, the PDF interpreter will process them, which means they will end up in the PDF file, when using pdffwrite." from https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=699830 (Hyperlinks broken after conversion) & several "duplicate" reports https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=699896 (PDF Anchor Links no longer working since version 25) https://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=700048 (Clickable links lost when converting to pdf) ... ** Bug watch added: Ghostscript (AFPL) Bugzilla #699830 http://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=699830 ** Bug watch added: Ghostscript (AFPL) Bugzilla #699896 http://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=699896 ** Bug watch added: Ghostscript (AFPL) Bugzilla #700048 http://bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi?id=700048 -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Desktop Packages, which is subscribed to ghostscript in Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1806865 Title: Ghostscript removes links (regression from gs 9.18) Status in ghostscript package in Ubuntu: New Bug description: I often reduce the size of pdf documents by running: gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dPDFSETTINGS="/default" -dNOPAUSE -dQUIET -dBATCH -sOutputFile="foo.pdf" "Document.pdf" The latest ghostscript version 9.26 doesn't keep links in the pdf file and produces slightly larger pdf files compared to 9.18. The size doesn't matter so much, but it's really bad that the links get removed. The attached file GhostscriptBug.tar.bz2 contains four files: - Scribus document with a link (PDF annotation) - PDF file with a link, generated by Scribus - foo9.26.pdf is the file resulting from running the above command with ghostscript 9.26 (-> links removed) - foo9.18.pdf is the file resulting from running the above command with ghostscript 9.18 (-> links still there) ProblemType: Bug DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04 Package: ghostscript 9.26~dfsg+0-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-39.42~16.04.1-generic 4.15.18 Uname: Linux 4.15.0-39-generic x86_64 ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.18 Architecture: amd64 CupsErrorLog: E [05/Dec/2018:08:06:16 +0100] Unknown directive BrowseAddress on line 26 of /etc/cups/cupsd.conf. E [05/Dec/2018:08:06:16 +0100] Missing value on line 3543 of /var/cache/cups/job.cache. CurrentDesktop: Unity Date: Wed Dec 5 12:20:41 2018 InstallationDate: Installed on 2011-05-25 (2751 days ago) InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release amd64 (20110426) Lpstat: device for KyoceraTASKalfa356ci: socket://192.168.16.5:9100 device for PDF: cups-pdf:/ MachineType: Dell Inc. Precision Tower 3620 Papersize: letter PpdFiles: Error: command ['fgrep', '-H', '*NickName', '/etc/cups/ppd/PDF.ppd', '/etc/cups/ppd/KyoceraTASKalfa356ci.ppd'] failed with exit code 2: grep: /etc/cups/ppd/PDF.ppd: Permission denied grep: /etc/cups/ppd/KyoceraTASKalfa356ci.ppd: Permission denied ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.15.0-39-generic root=UUID=11d1e29d-6b9c-42d4-95ef-0c3bd947c636 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7 SourcePackage: ghostscript UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install) dmi.bios.date: 12/11/2017 dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc. dmi.bios.version: 2.6.1 dmi.board.name: 0MWYPT dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc. dmi.board.version: A01 dmi.chassis.type: 3 dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc. dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvr2.6.1:bd12/11/2017:svnDellInc.:pnPrecisionTower3620:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0MWYPT:rvrA01:cvnDellInc.:ct3:cvr: dmi.product.family: Precision dmi.product.name: Precision Tower 3620 dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc. To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ghostscript/+bug/1806865/+subscriptions -- Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages Post to : desktop-packages@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~desktop-packages More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp