file automatically adding hyperlinks

[Robin Witkop-Staub]

I have a user that uses Excel 2000 quite a bit. She suddenly started having
problems with hyperlinks being added to all the cells in her file.
Everytime she clicked on a cell it tried to open a specific webpage. I
thought it was a one-time mistake so I downloaded and created a macro called
"removeHyperlinks" from mrexcel.com to automatically remove all the
hyperlinks in the cells. This worked and I thought it was solved.

The next day she called me back and said the hyperlinks were back, and it
was happening in more than one file now. She states she will be working
along and suddenly they hyperlinks appear. She has to create the
"RemoveHyperlinks" macro in the file and run it to keep working. After a
while it happens again. I looked and I do not see any other macro's in the
list except for the "RemoveHyperlinks" one I made. What else could be
causing this behavior?

Here is the macro I created in case it is relevant:
Sub RemoveHyperLinks()
Range("A2:A999").Hyperlinks.Delete
End Sub

 

[Tom Ogilvy]

I would look at the users AutoCorrect listing under Tools=>Autocorrect and
see if there is a defintion that turns an entry into a hyperlink.


If you don't find anything there, see what addins are loaded.

 

[Robin Witkop-Staub]

I checked the Autocorrect and nothing seemed unusual or setup to replace
with weblink. I shut off Autocorrect for testing.

Only Addon she has enabled is the Analysis Toolpak. She was using the
Autosave addon but she shut that off last week for testng too.

 

[Tom Ogilvy]

Generally, excel doesn't create things on its own.

Does it happen randomly or is there a correlation with what is being
entered.

the assumption is that the user is not entering URLs or email addresses
which Excel does convert to Hyperlinks - that this is some totally
unexpected behavior.

 

[Robin Witkop-Staub]

I don't get it either - it is quite strange.

I have talked to the user and she says she can not detect any pattern
causing the issue.

Do you thnk a simple uninstall/reinstall would fix it?

 

[Dave Peterson]

I'd open excel in safe mode first (disabling all macros):

close excel
windows start button
Run
excel /safe

Then open that workbook to see if it still happens. (Some macros aren't visible
via Tools|Macro|Macros dialog.)

You may want to check under the ThisWorkbook and the sheet modules, too.

Debra Dalgleish has some pictures at her site (for a different purpose), but it
might be helpful to you, too.

http://www.contextures.com/xlfaqMac.html#NoMacros

 

[Robin Witkop-Staub]

Thanks for the tips, I am trying this now.

One item I tested this AM. I had the user go to another PC and work on the
offending file for several hours with no problem. As soon as she returned
to her desk the problem reappeared. This leads me to believe the problem or
function is local to her workstation. Does this change or views or spark
any new ideas?

 

[Robin Witkop-Staub]

Ran in safe mode and it still occurs.

I'd open excel in safe mode first (disabling all macros):

close excel
windows start button
Run
excel /safe

Then open that workbook to see if it still happens. (Some macros aren't visible
via Tools|Macro|Macros dialog.)

You may want to check under the ThisWorkbook and the sheet modules, too.

Debra Dalgleish has some pictures at her site (for a different purpose), but it
might be helpful to you, too.

http://www.contextures.com/xlfaqMac.html#NoMacros

 

[Dave Peterson]

Sorry, I don't have another guess.

Ran in safe mode and it still occurs.

 

[Robin Witkop-Staub]

I uninstalled, deleted the remaining orphan files/directories, and
reinstalled. Everything was working fine for a few hours and then suddenly
the problem came back. Again it is only happening on this particular PC so
it is not a setting in the actual file. The user did say that she swpas
these files with vendors via email, they make additions, and then send them
back. She saves the files over the original after receiving them. Sounds
to me like a vendor might be doing something to cause the problem, but
wouldn't this still require a VBSript or Macro of some sort to run? Where
could it possibly be hiding?

Ran in safe mode and it still occurs.

I'd open excel in safe mode first (disabling all macros):

close excel
windows start button
Run
excel /safe

Then open that workbook to see if it still happens. (Some macros aren't visible
via Tools|Macro|Macros dialog.)

You may want to check under the ThisWorkbook and the sheet modules, too.

Debra Dalgleish has some pictures at her site (for a different purpose), but it
might be helpful to you, too.

http://www.contextures.com/xlfaqMac.html#NoMacros

all

 

[Dave Peterson]

Did you look inside the VBE (where macros live)?

That link to Debra Dalgleish's site might be useful to explain what you should
see.

I uninstalled, deleted the remaining orphan files/directories, and
reinstalled. Everything was working fine for a few hours and then suddenly
the problem came back. Again it is only happening on this particular PC so
it is not a setting in the actual file. The user did say that she swpas
these files with vendors via email, they make additions, and then send them
back. She saves the files over the original after receiving them. Sounds
to me like a vendor might be doing something to cause the problem, but
wouldn't this still require a VBSript or Macro of some sort to run? Where
could it possibly be hiding?