diff --git a/src-ui/src/app/components/common/pdf-viewer/pdf-viewer.component.scss b/src-ui/src/app/components/common/pdf-viewer/pdf-viewer.component.scss
index d5dd05bd9..078c73b38 100644
--- a/src-ui/src/app/components/common/pdf-viewer/pdf-viewer.component.scss
+++ b/src-ui/src/app/components/common/pdf-viewer/pdf-viewer.component.scss
@@ -154,10 +154,23 @@
   & section {
     position: absolute;
     text-align: initial;
+    pointer-events: auto;
     box-sizing: border-box;
     transform-origin: 0 0;
   }
 
+  & :is(.linkAnnotation, .buttonWidgetAnnotation.pushButton) > a {
+    position: absolute;
+    inset: 0;
+    font-size: 1em;
+  }
+
+  & :is(.linkAnnotation, .buttonWidgetAnnotation.pushButton):not(.hasBorder)
+    > a:hover {
+    opacity: 0.2;
+    background-color: rgb(255 255 0);
+  }
+
   & .annotationTextContent {
     opacity: 0;
   }
diff --git a/src-ui/src/app/components/common/pdf-viewer/pdf-viewer.component.spec.ts b/src-ui/src/app/components/common/pdf-viewer/pdf-viewer.component.spec.ts
index 93649394a..bb64cee1f 100644
--- a/src-ui/src/app/components/common/pdf-viewer/pdf-viewer.component.spec.ts
+++ b/src-ui/src/app/components/common/pdf-viewer/pdf-viewer.component.spec.ts
@@ -1,7 +1,11 @@
 import { SimpleChange } from '@angular/core'
 import { ComponentFixture, TestBed } from '@angular/core/testing'
 import * as pdfjs from 'pdfjs-dist/legacy/build/pdf.mjs'
-import { PDFSinglePageViewer, PDFViewer } from 'pdfjs-dist/web/pdf_viewer.mjs'
+import {
+  LinkTarget,
+  PDFSinglePageViewer,
+  PDFViewer,
+} from 'pdfjs-dist/web/pdf_viewer.mjs'
 import { PngxPdfViewerComponent } from './pdf-viewer.component'
 import { PdfRenderMode, PdfZoomLevel, PdfZoomScale } from './pdf-viewer.types'
 
@@ -58,6 +62,16 @@ describe('PngxPdfViewerComponent', () => {
     expect((component as any).pdfViewer).toBeInstanceOf(PDFViewer)
   })
 
+  it('opens external links in a new tab', () => {
+    const linkService = (component as any).linkService
+    expect(linkService.options).toEqual(
+      expect.objectContaining({
+        externalLinkTarget: LinkTarget.BLANK,
+        externalLinkRel: 'noopener noreferrer nofollow',
+      })
+    )
+  })
+
   it('resolves the worker source relative to the document base URI', async () => {
     setBaseHref('/paperless/')
     const getDocumentSpy = jest.spyOn(pdfjs, 'getDocument')
diff --git a/src-ui/src/app/components/common/pdf-viewer/pdf-viewer.component.ts b/src-ui/src/app/components/common/pdf-viewer/pdf-viewer.component.ts
index 959ea3011..a4a9dbd19 100644
--- a/src-ui/src/app/components/common/pdf-viewer/pdf-viewer.component.ts
+++ b/src-ui/src/app/components/common/pdf-viewer/pdf-viewer.component.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import {
 } from 'pdfjs-dist/legacy/build/pdf.mjs'
 import {
   EventBus,
+  LinkTarget,
   PDFFindController,
   PDFLinkService,
   PDFSinglePageViewer,
@@ -75,7 +76,11 @@ export class PngxPdfViewerComponent
   private lastViewerPage?: number
 
   private readonly eventBus = new EventBus()
-  private readonly linkService = new PDFLinkService({ eventBus: this.eventBus })
+  private readonly linkService = new PDFLinkService({
+    eventBus: this.eventBus,
+    externalLinkTarget: LinkTarget.BLANK,
+    externalLinkRel: 'noopener noreferrer nofollow',
+  })
   private readonly findController = new PDFFindController({
     eventBus: this.eventBus,
     linkService: this.linkService,
diff --git a/src-ui/src/test/mocks/pdfjs-web-pdf_viewer.ts b/src-ui/src/test/mocks/pdfjs-web-pdf_viewer.ts
index 601b05caf..18e30e8aa 100644
--- a/src-ui/src/test/mocks/pdfjs-web-pdf_viewer.ts
+++ b/src-ui/src/test/mocks/pdfjs-web-pdf_viewer.ts
@@ -25,10 +25,20 @@ export class PDFFindController {
   onIsPageVisible?: () => boolean
 }
 
+export const LinkTarget = {
+  NONE: 0,
+  SELF: 1,
+  BLANK: 2,
+  PARENT: 3,
+  TOP: 4,
+}
+
 export class PDFLinkService {
   private document?: unknown
   private viewer?: unknown
 
+  constructor(readonly options: Record<string, unknown> = {}) {}
+
   setDocument(document: unknown): void {
     this.document = document
   }