Hyperlink Errors

[Brandon]

This topic has been discussed on this board before, but I have yet to
find a satisfactory answer.
This is the issue.
In Word if I hyperlink to another Word document that is not in the same
folder or is in a subfolder of the same folder from which I am
hyperlinking, the hyperlink will not work.

For example if the file where I am inserting a hyperlink is in

User/Folder A/Folder B/file name

And the file to which I am linking is in:

User/Folder A/file name.

the link will not work, whereas if I reverse the two, it will work.
This problem seems to have been reported several times, but with no
acceptable resolution. The suggested work arounds that I've seen are:

1. Put all the files in one folder.
-This just is not going to work for me. I keep things in different
folders to keep them organized. I have a lot of files that link to
each other (or at least I want them to link them to each other)

2. Set the base for hyperlinks as User/
3. Type in the full path manually
-This both require too much effort. I am using a ton of hyperlinks
and to type in the path for each one or to set the base for each file
is just to unwieldy.

The excuse I have heard-that the default is relative paths and that
office can't be expected to be able to link to just any file on your
computer-is unacceptable. On Windows with Office XP I could hyperlink
to anything without any problem and without typing out full paths or
setting a base for each document.

So the question is this. Is there anyway to get hyperlinks to actually
work without restructuring my file system or manually entering full
paths? Or is this just another example of some feature Microsoft never
took the time to get working for the Mac version of Office?

Brandon

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hi Brandon:

You haven't said which version of Word or operating system or patch level
you have, so it makes it nearly impossible to give you a meaningful answer.

I just created a document in a folder here, then inserted three hyperlinks
to documents in different folders. One is a subfolder of the current
folder, the other two are different folders. They all worked.

You don't have to type any hyperlinks: just use Command + K and browse: Word
will type them for you. It will enter a fully-qualified hyperlink if it
needs one.

I think there are two things you need to do:

1) Do NOT specify a hyperlink base (or, if you do, you must then move
everything so that the hyperlink base will be true after you save).

2) Make sure both source and destination documents have been saved before
you insert the link.

I'm in Word 2004 on OS 10.3.9. If you're in something different, your
mileage will vary.

Cheers

This topic has been discussed on this board before, but I have yet to
find a satisfactory answer.
This is the issue.
In Word if I hyperlink to another Word document that is not in the same
folder or is in a subfolder of the same folder from which I am
hyperlinking, the hyperlink will not work.

For example if the file where I am inserting a hyperlink is in

User/Folder A/Folder B/file name

And the file to which I am linking is in:

User/Folder A/file name.

the link will not work, whereas if I reverse the two, it will work.
This problem seems to have been reported several times, but with no
acceptable resolution. The suggested work arounds that I've seen are:

1. Put all the files in one folder.
-This just is not going to work for me. I keep things in different
folders to keep them organized. I have a lot of files that link to
each other (or at least I want them to link them to each other)

2. Set the base for hyperlinks as User/
3. Type in the full path manually
-This both require too much effort. I am using a ton of hyperlinks
and to type in the path for each one or to set the base for each file
is just to unwieldy.

The excuse I have heard-that the default is relative paths and that
office can't be expected to be able to link to just any file on your
computer-is unacceptable. On Windows with Office XP I could hyperlink
to anything without any problem and without typing out full paths or
setting a base for each document.

So the question is this. Is there anyway to get hyperlinks to actually
work without restructuring my file system or manually entering full
paths? Or is this just another example of some feature Microsoft never
took the time to get working for the Mac version of Office?

Brandon

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[Brandon]

Hi John,

I haven't checked back for a couple weeks. To answer your question I
am using Office 2004 which is completely updated and OS 10.4.6. But
looking at the boards a lot of people have had this problem I describe
using Office X as well. I take it you didn't actually try to do what I
described, or else, for some reason, it worked for you. I don't
normally type out hyperlinks, I use the Inser Hyperlink and Browse
method. Both files have been saved. I can insert the hyperlink, but
when I click on it I get an error. Again, this is only when the file I
am hyperlinking to is not in the same folder (or subfolder of the same
folder) that the file in which I am inserting a hyperlink is. I am not
sure if this a problem for all users, or only on some computers, but it
certainly is not working on mine. Any help you can give would be very
much appreciated.

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hi Brandon:

No, I did exactly as you described, and it works perfectly on this computer
in OS 10.3.9. That's the only difference. Oh, and I am running an
anti-spam HOSTS file... That shouldn't affect anything.

Email me a copy of one of those (small!) documents and I will take a look
for you. You will need a password to get through my spam filter: use
"253040@f6g2000cwb" in the subject line, and post in plain text with the
document as an attachment. Please include the text of this post in the body
of the message (so I remember what the problem was...)

Sorry: but if you trigger the spam filter, I will never know you have sent
anything. Similarly, if you post an attachment in here, I will never see
it.

Cheers

Hi John,

I haven't checked back for a couple weeks. To answer your question I
am using Office 2004 which is completely updated and OS 10.4.6. But
looking at the boards a lot of people have had this problem I describe
using Office X as well. I take it you didn't actually try to do what I
described, or else, for some reason, it worked for you. I don't
normally type out hyperlinks, I use the Inser Hyperlink and Browse
method. Both files have been saved. I can insert the hyperlink, but
when I click on it I get an error. Again, this is only when the file I
am hyperlinking to is not in the same folder (or subfolder of the same
folder) that the file in which I am inserting a hyperlink is. I am not
sure if this a problem for all users, or only on some computers, but it
certainly is not working on mine. Any help you can give would be very
much appreciated.

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi John -

This problem is real & I can repro it here in 10.4.6/11.2, both fully
updated.

If I create a hyperlink to a file in a different path or a file in the same
folder deeper in the same path there is no problem. The link is picked up as
File://localhost/volumes/volumename/folderA/folderB/folderC/filename.doc

However, if I create the link to a file in a folder *higher up* in the same
path as the folder containing the file in which I create the link, the link
is only picked up as //filename.doc and clicking it produces the message "An
unexpected error has occurred."

IIRC, the issue was discussed in the past, but I thought it had been
resolved. However, I can't locate the prior thread and for the life of me I
can't remember what the resolution was. I vaguely recall it having to do
with spaces in the volume/folder/file names.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac