hyperlink function broken in Word 2003

[perseverant]

I've scoured the net, and have found no mention of a problem that has me
stumped. The "insert hyperlink" function doesn't allow any links to pages on
the net. If I insert a hyperlink with a "www" or "http://" prefix, Word
simply ignores it. After entering such a hyperlink, and then closing and
reopening the dialog box, the link is simply absent. A hyperlink without
these prefixes seems to work fine.

Interestingly, if I press alt/f9, the "absent" link appears, but when I
revert back to the normal display mode, the link doesn't work. And when I
save the page and open it in Notepad, I see that where this code for a link
should be: <a href="...">, all that appears is this: <a>

I've been trying to solve this riddle since November. I uninstalled Office,
and scrubbed my system before reinstalling, but the problem persists. I've
checked various security settings, since it seems that this might be some
sort of security feature gone berserk, but haven't found the culprit.

The trouble is that I'm hooked on using Word for working on my web pages (I
don't understand why Microsoft equips Word with Web capabilities that neither
FrontPage nor Publisher possess, but that's where things stand), so I really
need to figure this out. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance...

 

[perseverant]

OK, I have another piece to the puzzle. What causes a link to disappear is
the inclusion of a slash -- either forward or backward, it doesn't matter.
So a link that consists of a simple file name works fine, but anything
showing a path is simply "rejected" by Word.

How strange is that?

 

[perseverant]

Was hoping someone here might have some clue about this malfunction, and am
curious: Is there no response because the problem is just too weird? Or am I
not describing it sufficiently well?

I'm reluctant to call Microsoft help. I have a feeling I'd be paying $35 for
someone to tell me to reinstall my operating system... ;-)

Again, the problem is that my "insert hyperlink" (or "edit hyperlink")
function refuses to work if the inserted link includes a slash (either
forward or backward). A link that consists of a simple file name works fine,
but anything showing a path is simply "rejected" by Word.

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

I'm not sure what capability for Web documents you're referring to that Word possesses that would be missing from MS Office Front
Page.

Starting in a new Word document -

If you type the URL into Word directly does it convert it to a hyperlink?

If you paste a link from the address bar in Internet Explorer into a Word document, what happens?

If in your first scenario you use Alt+F9 in the document to toggle field code display rather than field (Hyperlinks are fields in
Word) results, what does the field show, exactly. If you then use Ctrl+K to edit the hyperlink does the 'Text to display' line
read differently than the link in the field?

If you hold down the ctrl key while starting Word and repeating the steps above, what happens?

================
I've scoured the net, and have found no mention of a problem that has me
stumped. The "insert hyperlink" function doesn't allow any links to pages on
the net. If I insert a hyperlink with a "www" or "http://" prefix, Word
simply ignores it. After entering such a hyperlink, and then closing and
reopening the dialog box, the link is simply absent. A hyperlink without
these prefixes seems to work fine.

Interestingly, if I press alt/f9, the "absent" link appears, but when I
revert back to the normal display mode, the link doesn't work. And when I
save the page and open it in Notepad, I see that where this code for a link
should be: <a href="...">, all that appears is this: <a>

I've been trying to solve this riddle since November. I uninstalled Office,
and scrubbed my system before reinstalling, but the problem persists. I've
checked various security settings, since it seems that this might be some
sort of security feature gone berserk, but haven't found the culprit.

The trouble is that I'm hooked on using Word for working on my web pages (I
don't understand why Microsoft equips Word with Web capabilities that neither
FrontPage nor Publisher possess, but that's where things stand), so I really
need to figure this out. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance...>>
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

 

[perseverant]

Thanks for responding, Bob!

I'm not sure what capability for Web documents you're referring to that Word possesses that would be missing from MS Office Front
Page.

Word seems to have capabilities for layout and formatting that FrontPage
doesn't have. Or at least that I haven't located... ;-)

Starting in a new Word document -
If you type the URL into Word directly does it convert it to a hyperlink?
No.

If you paste a link from the address bar in Internet Explorer into a Word document, what happens?

It just pastes the link, with no embedded hyperlink.

If in your first scenario you use Alt+F9 in the document to toggle field code display rather than field (Hyperlinks are fields in
Word) results, what does the field show, exactly.

I took this text and converted it to a hyperlink:
http://www.lulu.com/content/
Pressing alt+F9, I get:
{HYPERLINK "http://www.lulu.com/content/" }

If you then use Ctrl+K to edit the hyperlink does the 'Text to display' line

read differently than the link in the field?

"Text to display" says: <<Selection in Document>>
The field in the Edit Hyperlink window labeled "address" is *empty*. This is
one of the symptoms of the problem -- if I create a hyperlink with a slash
character in it, and then open the Edit Hyperlink window, the address field
is always empty.

If you hold down the ctrl key while starting Word and repeating the steps above, what happens?

In safe mode, when I paste the same text into a new document, Word attempts
to turn it into a hyperlink. It applies hyperlink formatting, and when I
right-click the text, there is the "edit hyperlink" option. But when I select
that option, I see the same thing -- no address. And back in the document,
when I hover over the text, no indication of a hyperlink...

Thanks again for your help!

Doug

 

[perseverant]

I guess this really is a tough one... ;-)

Thanks for responding, Bob!




Word seems to have capabilities for layout and formatting that FrontPage
doesn't have. Or at least that I haven't located... ;-)


It just pastes the link, with no embedded hyperlink.


I took this text and converted it to a hyperlink:
http://www.lulu.com/content/
Pressing alt+F9, I get:
{HYPERLINK "http://www.lulu.com/content/" }

If you then use Ctrl+K to edit the hyperlink does the 'Text to display' line

"Text to display" says: <<Selection in Document>>
The field in the Edit Hyperlink window labeled "address" is *empty*. This is
one of the symptoms of the problem -- if I create a hyperlink with a slash
character in it, and then open the Edit Hyperlink window, the address field
is always empty.

In safe mode, when I paste the same text into a new document, Word attempts
to turn it into a hyperlink. It applies hyperlink formatting, and when I
right-click the text, there is the "edit hyperlink" option. But when I select
that option, I see the same thing -- no address. And back in the document,
when I hover over the text, no indication of a hyperlink...

Thanks again for your help!

Doug

 

[cphilipsen]

I had this same problem - I entered a UNC path to both a share and a
file in Word 2003 SP2, and Word turned both into hyperlinks. When I
save the document, the address would change to an empty path to the
share. I would fix the address and it would work fine until I saved
the document again. I found that because I was editing this document
locally, but the document was originating from a share, this behavior
occurred, but when I moved the document to my local environment,
edited and saved it, and copied it back out to the share, the
hyperlinks saved just fine.

Good luck!

Chris.