Update source file for all links at once

[ervoneal]

I have dozens of Excel tables linked in a Word document. All of the links
are contained within the same Excel file. I need to move both the Excel file
and the Word file to new folder. After doing so, I need to update the links
to the Excel from the old folder to the new folder. When I click on "Edit
Links" I get a listing of all the links with the old folder showing as the
source file. If I use the shift key to highlight them all, "Change Source
File" is still highlighted as an available option. However, this just
updates one file at a time. Is there an easy way to update all of them at
once?

Also, we are using Office 2007 but these files are still saved as Office
2003 files. Would we benefit from updating them to Office 2007 files?

Thanks,

 

[Jay Freedman]

For this task, ignore the Edit Links dialog. Instead,

- Press Alt+F9 to display all the field codes in place of the field
results. Each linked table should appear as

{LINK Excel.Sheet.8 <path to file> <worksheet!range> <switches>}

- Use the Replace dialog to replace the original path to the Excel
file with the new path. Be sure to use double backslashes (\\) instead
of single ones between the folder names, as required by the LINK
field's syntax.

- Press Alt+F9 again to collapse the field codes.

- Select the whole document (Ctrl+A) and press F9 to update all the
fields.

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the
newsgroup so all may benefit.

 

[ervoneal]

Thanks Jay!

The method worked great. To make sure I wasn't going to have any typing or
slash errors, I deleted one linked object in the new file and replaced it
with the updated link. Then, after pressing F9, I used the Replace feature
by copying the old path in the Find field and the new path in the Replace
field.

Also, I created a couple of test files and did the same steps except that I
deleted the path to the file. I believe this makes the link a "relative"
reference. I turned off the option to update links upon "Save" and the links
are working on the test file as long as I move both the Word and the linked
Excel file to the same folder.

 

[macropod]

Hi ervoneal,

To see how to implement relative paths in Word, check out the solution I've posted at:
http://www.wopr.com/index.php?showtopic=670027