Hyperlinks, Office for Mac OS X 2004

[Peter Kolstad]

Just upgraded to this latest Office for the Mac and most of my
hyperlinks to other Word documents (imported from Office 98 on OS 8.6)
quit working. Error message is: "Can't Open the Specified File."
Followed a previous post's suggestion and tried putting all
hyperlinked files in the same folder. That worked, but I miss being
able to hyperlink to another Word file anywhere on my hard drive.
Doesn't Word-Mac-2004 allow this? I'm using the Edit Hyperlink
command as it says in the Help menu but am suspecting there's some
trick to typing in the correct path name that's eluding me. There
don't seem to be any file incompatibility issues... Can anyone help?
Maybe I just need a link to a document on the web that exlains all the
%'s and #'s in the file path and what they mean. Thanks, -PK

 

[matt neuburg]

Just upgraded to this latest Office for the Mac and most of my
hyperlinks to other Word documents (imported from Office 98 on OS 8.6)
quit working. Error message is: "Can't Open the Specified File."
Followed a previous post's suggestion and tried putting all
hyperlinked files in the same folder. That worked, but I miss being
able to hyperlink to another Word file anywhere on my hard drive.
Doesn't Word-Mac-2004 allow this?

Certainly. To prove this to yourself, just make a new hyperlink. You can
make a hyperlink to a file anywhere.

The problem, I'm guessing, is that these are hyperlinks from old
documents. The style of pathname used to specify a file's location on
disk in 8.6 doesn't work on Mac OS X; and besides, since those days,
you've probably changed the whole structure of your hard drive. You're
probably not even on the same computer any more! So the old pathname is
probably invalid; it probably points to disks or folders you don't even
have any more. m.

 

[Kolstad, Peter]

Certainly. To prove this to yourself, just make a new hyperlink. You can
make a hyperlink to a file anywhere.

The problem, I'm guessing, is that these are hyperlinks from old
documents. The style of pathname used to specify a file's location on
disk in 8.6 doesn't work on Mac OS X; and besides, since those days,
you've probably changed the whole structure of your hard drive. You're
probably not even on the same computer any more! So the old pathname is
probably invalid; it probably points to disks or folders you don't even
have any more. m.

Matt,

Thanks--I tried it just as you said: went into one of my upgraded documents
(which all open as Word 04 documents now), copied a word, and pasted it as a
hyperlink in another document in a different, more nested folder (but all
under Homeocuments). When I click on the hyperlink I get the same
"Can't Open Specified File" message. I wonder if there's something wrong
with the pathname shown on the hyperlink. When I drag over the hyperlink it
says File://localhost/Folder/file, where in fact the file that the link is
pointing to is in the first level of a folder at the root of my home user's
documents folder. When I select the word I've just created as a hyperlink
and choose "Edit Hyperlink" the path under "Link to" reads simply
/Folder/file/#%091,41,48,0,,word [meaning the word that's being linked to]
Perhaps there's something in that "Link to" path that could be changed to
make the hyperlink open the document link target successfully. Or maybe I
should create a duplicate set of folders with the same nesting pattern as my
old folders (which were dragged over a network connection from 8.6) and see
if that works...

 

[matt neuburg]

went into one of my upgraded documents
(which all open as Word 04 documents now), copied a word, and pasted it as a
hyperlink in another document in a different, more nested folder (but all
under Homeocuments). When I click on the hyperlink I get the same
"Can't Open Specified File" message. I wonder if there's something wrong
with the pathname shown on the hyperlink. When I drag over the hyperlink it
says File://localhost/Folder/file, where in fact the file that the link is
pointing to is in the first level of a folder at the root of my home user's
documents folder.

I tried exactly what you just said. One document was here:

/Users/matt2/Documents/

The other document was here:

/Users/matt2/Documents/radio/

I copied a word from the second and hyperlink-pasted it into the first.
The link worked and the pathname shown in the tooltip was correct.

Have you got any weird characters in your filenames? Things like slashes
and colons could conceivably throw things off (though they should not).
What happens if the two files are just named "test1" and "test2"?

When I select the word I've just created as a hyperlink
and choose "Edit Hyperlink" the path under "Link to" reads simply
/Folder/file/#%091,41,48,0,,word [meaning the word that's being linked to]
Perhaps there's something in that "Link to" path that could be changed to
make the hyperlink open the document link target successfully.

Certainly you can edit the path. Everything after "file://" and before
the document name starts is simply the path, the hierarchy of folders.

Or maybe I
should create a duplicate set of folders with the same nesting pattern as my
old folders (which were dragged over a network connection from 8.6) and see
if that works...

This is what I suspected, and what I said in my earlier note. You cannot
really expect hyperlinks to work at all after you've moved the document
from one machine to another, because the folder hierarchy is not the
same any more.

I would say that your solution is this: (1) First, convince yourself
that hyperlinks work. Just start with two completely new documents,
"test1" and "test2" and prove it to yourself. Then (2) put the documents
where you want them alter all the hyperlinks to be correct for the new
locations. m.

 

[Kolstad, Peter]

went into one of my upgraded documents
(which all open as Word 04 documents now), copied a word, and pasted it as a
hyperlink in another document in a different, more nested folder (but all
under Homeocuments). When I click on the hyperlink I get the same
"Can't Open Specified File" message. I wonder if there's something wrong
with the pathname shown on the hyperlink. When I drag over the hyperlink it
says File://localhost/Folder/file, where in fact the file that the link is
pointing to is in the first level of a folder at the root of my home user's
documents folder.

I tried exactly what you just said. One document was here:

/Users/matt2/Documents/

The other document was here:

/Users/matt2/Documents/radio/

I copied a word from the second and hyperlink-pasted it into the first.
The link worked and the pathname shown in the tooltip was correct.

Have you got any weird characters in your filenames? Things like slashes
and colons could conceivably throw things off (though they should not).
What happens if the two files are just named "test1" and "test2"?

When I select the word I've just created as a hyperlink
and choose "Edit Hyperlink" the path under "Link to" reads simply
/Folder/file/#%091,41,48,0,,word [meaning the word that's being linked to]
Perhaps there's something in that "Link to" path that could be changed to
make the hyperlink open the document link target successfully.

Certainly you can edit the path. Everything after "file://" and before
the document name starts is simply the path, the hierarchy of folders.

Or maybe I
should create a duplicate set of folders with the same nesting pattern as my
old folders (which were dragged over a network connection from 8.6) and see
if that works...

This is what I suspected, and what I said in my earlier note. You cannot
really expect hyperlinks to work at all after you've moved the document
from one machine to another, because the folder hierarchy is not the
same any more.

I would say that your solution is this: (1) First, convince yourself
that hyperlinks work. Just start with two completely new documents,
"test1" and "test2" and prove it to yourself. Then (2) put the documents
where you want them alter all the hyperlinks to be correct for the new
locations. m.

Matt,

Thanks very much for pointing me in the right direction. I re-read your
first post last night and that's what led to duplicating the file structure
on the Office 04 side and testing. I am now convinced that both the
hyperlinks and the hyperlink editing function are working fine in Office 04,
but only when using folders created in Office 04, not with folders created
in Office 98/OS 8.6, just as you said. Tested with two old files (meaning
files that were net-transferred, folders and all from my 8600 running OS
8.6). Couldn't use hyperlinks between the two when the files were still in
the old folders but when they were nested inside brand-new Office 04 folders
they linked between each other okay. It's a lot of work to re-create the
old folder structure but it's probably the best way to go. I've tried
playing with changing the pathname on the link (in Edit Hyperlink) while
using the old folder structure and haven't had much luck so far. -PK

 

[Kolstad, Peter]

went into one of my upgraded documents
(which all open as Word 04 documents now), copied a word, and pasted it as a
hyperlink in another document in a different, more nested folder (but all
under Homeocuments). When I click on the hyperlink I get the same
"Can't Open Specified File" message. I wonder if there's something wrong
with the pathname shown on the hyperlink. When I drag over the hyperlink it
says File://localhost/Folder/file, where in fact the file that the link is
pointing to is in the first level of a folder at the root of my home user's
documents folder.

I tried exactly what you just said. One document was here:

/Users/matt2/Documents/

The other document was here:

/Users/matt2/Documents/radio/

I copied a word from the second and hyperlink-pasted it into the first.
The link worked and the pathname shown in the tooltip was correct.

Have you got any weird characters in your filenames? Things like slashes
and colons could conceivably throw things off (though they should not).
What happens if the two files are just named "test1" and "test2"?

When I select the word I've just created as a hyperlink
and choose "Edit Hyperlink" the path under "Link to" reads simply
/Folder/file/#%091,41,48,0,,word [meaning the word that's being linked to]
Perhaps there's something in that "Link to" path that could be changed to
make the hyperlink open the document link target successfully.

Certainly you can edit the path. Everything after "file://" and before
the document name starts is simply the path, the hierarchy of folders.

Or maybe I
should create a duplicate set of folders with the same nesting pattern as my
old folders (which were dragged over a network connection from 8.6) and see
if that works...

This is what I suspected, and what I said in my earlier note. You cannot
really expect hyperlinks to work at all after you've moved the document
from one machine to another, because the folder hierarchy is not the
same any more.

I would say that your solution is this: (1) First, convince yourself
that hyperlinks work. Just start with two completely new documents,
"test1" and "test2" and prove it to yourself. Then (2) put the documents
where you want them alter all the hyperlinks to be correct for the new
locations. m.

Matt,

Okay, so I can do, following your example:

/Users/matt2/Documents/

.... other document was here:

/Users/matt2/Documents/radio/

where you say: "I copied a word from the second and hyperlink-pasted it into
the first. The link worked and the pathname shown in the tooltip was
correct."

That worked for me as well, with old 8.6 folders or with new Office 04
folders. But it doesn't work in reverse. If I try copying a link from the
first document, at

/Users/matt2/Documents/

to the second

/Users/matt2/Documents/radio/

That doesn't work (for me at least) and the pathname is incorrect. And that
seems to be a good part of the problem I was having, though I wasn't
explaining it clearly since I didn't grasp the issue enough to do so. The
old folders are working fine now--they just have to be in the right part of
the hierarchy.

Wish the MS programmers would allow hyperlinks to work anywhere you want
them to assign them.

-PK

 

[matt neuburg]

Okay, so I can do, following your example:

/Users/matt2/Documents/

... other document was here:

/Users/matt2/Documents/radio/

where you say: "I copied a word from the second and hyperlink-pasted it into
the first. The link worked and the pathname shown in the tooltip was
correct."

That worked for me as well, with old 8.6 folders or with new Office 04
folders. But it doesn't work in reverse. If I try copying a link from the
first document, at

/Users/matt2/Documents/

to the second

/Users/matt2/Documents/radio/

That doesn't work (for me at least) and the pathname is incorrect.

But that is because file URLs are relative by default, and the document
at the higher level (the one in Documents) has no path relative to the
one at the lower level. There are two ways to solve this:

(1) You can just type an absolute url yourself for the hyperlink
(starting with file:// and providing a complete path).

(2) Easier: in both documents, go into File > Properties and set /User
as the base URL for hyperlinks (it's the last field in the dialog). Now
text that is hyperlink-pasted from document A to B or from B to A will
work, as long as both documents are inside the /User folder somewhere.
m.

 

[Beth Rosengard]

That doesn't work (for me at least) and the pathname is incorrect. And that
seems to be a good part of the problem I was having, though I wasn't
explaining it clearly since I didn't grasp the issue enough to do so. The
old folders are working fine now--they just have to be in the right part of
the hierarchy.

Wish the MS programmers would allow hyperlinks to work anywhere you want
them to assign them.

That couldn't work! You might have three files with identical names in
three different folders. How would the hyperlink association to the correct
file be made except by using the path?

--
Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/WordMac/index.htm>
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org>

 

[Kolstad, Peter]

That couldn't work! You might have three files with identical names in
three different folders. How would the hyperlink association to the correct
file be made except by using the path?

Well, personally I think I'd be willing to give up the luxury of having
files with identical names in different folders in order to have more
freedom with hyperlinking. I usually avoid duplicate filenames anyway to
avoid confusion during searches.

 

[Kolstad, Peter]

But that is because file URLs are relative by default, and the document
at the higher level (the one in Documents) has no path relative to the
one at the lower level. There are two ways to solve this:

(1) You can just type an absolute url yourself for the hyperlink
(starting with file:// and providing a complete path).

(2) Easier: in both documents, go into File > Properties and set /User
as the base URL for hyperlinks (it's the last field in the dialog). Now
text that is hyperlink-pasted from document A to B or from B to A will
work, as long as both documents are inside the /User folder somewhere.
m.

Got it! (2) Brilliant! -PK