Losing Hyperlink Connection

[Sondra]

I have created a letter that merges with an access database. Within the
letter is a hyperlink to another file that the users must open for additional
data. The letter is stored on a shared drive, along with the access database
and the excel spreadsheet which contains the additional information.

Everything works great. The merge is completed and the user goes to the
hyperlink to open the other file and an error message comes back saying:

"The address of this site is not valid. Check the Address and try again."

When I check the address it is now trying to locate it in "My Documents"
folder. I have updated and before the merge it is great. It seems to only
be happening after the merge is completed.

Can anyone give me some advise on this?

Thanks.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

I haven't yet looked at the "shared drive" issue. However, the only type of
merge where I see the behaviour you describe is a merge to e-mail with
attachments. What seems to fix the problem here is
a. uncheck Word Tools|Options|General|Web options|Files|"Update links on
save"
b. make sure that the pathname in your HYPERLINK field (use Alt-F9 to have
a look) is an "absolute" path name or URL, e.g. either

c:\\mypath\\myfile.htm
or
file:///c:/mypath/myfile.htm

and not

myfile.htm
or
.../../../myfile.htm
etc.

c. when you have done (a) and (b), select all the fields and press F9 to
re-execute them, then save and close the document (you should only need to
do (c) once as long as you don't change (a) again, I think).
d. try again

If this message doesn't help, could you please tell us which version of Word
you are using and what type of merge you are doing?

Peter Jamieson

 

[Sondra]

Peter:

This worked great!! Thanks so very much for your help.

 

[Sondra]

Okay so I was wrong about this working. It worked great when the document is
first brought up on the computer; however, it is a mail merge document and
the hyperlink is actually not activated until after the mailmerge is
completed. The users are telling me that they link loses its connection when
they mail merge is completed. I have had all the users follow the steps
recommend by Peter; however, it is still occuring. Does anyone have any
further suggestions?

 

[Peter Jamieson]

A pity. It still seems OK here.

Again, which version of Word and what type of merge?

Can you use Alt-F9 to tell us exactly what the HYPERLINK contains
a. before the merge
b. after the merge

When you first tried this solution, it seemed to work - did it work on your
workstation but not the other users', or anything like that?

Peter Jamieson

 

[Sondra]

I am currently using 2002.

I just tested on another user's computer and it ran fine. I'm going to
re-run on the user who was having the problem and see what isn't working.

Looks like a User Problem not a sofware Problem.

Thanks