Wanted: Word Hyperlinks to Mapped Drive, NOT to UNC

[Michael Bednarek]

WinWord V-9 (same in V-11 I believe):

When I insert a Hyperlink into a document pointing to a file on our
network server, say, F:\SomeDir\Some.doc, WinWord inserts a hyperlink of
the form \\server\share\SomeDir\Some.doc

Instead, I need it to be of the form file://F:\SomeDir\Some.doc; note
that Outlook used as an HTML editor -and not WinWord- will allow that
form. Some of our users insist of using WinWord as their Outlook editor,
and the hyperlinks they create are useless to us - we need them to point
to a mapped network drive, just exactly as we enter them, without any
alteration by WinWord.

Can this be done? If so, how?

 

[Beth Melton]

You might try this Reg Hack and see if it works:

In the Registry navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Word\Options

Under the Options key add a new Binary value with the following:

Name: DontUseUNC
Value: 1

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Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Michael Bednarek]

You might try this Reg Hack and see if it works:

In the Registry navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Word\Options

Under the Options key add a new Binary value with the following:

Name: DontUseUNC
Value: 1

Thank you for your response. It doesn't work, though.

Doing some research based on your response showed that that feature was
introduced in Word-8 (see: <http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q171406/>),
and that the registry value DontUseUNC is in fact a DWord. But this
feature was apparently discontinued, as Support9.dot does not contain
it, similar to the way NoLongNetNames was discontinued after Word-6.

I added the value DontUseUNC=1 (both as Binary and DWord) to the
registry (both under Office\9.0\ and \8.0\), and it did not change
Word's behaviour.

I consider this a serious loss of functionality. Many companies have
mirrored file servers in their various locations, and inserting UNC
links is completely counterproductive. I also resent Word's habit of
correcting what I write.

As I mentioned before, inserting hyperlinks in Outlook's generic HTML
editor works fine: it takes what I type.

 

[J. Hubbard]

We are experiencing a similar problem with Office 2003 SP1,
specifically Microsoft Word using subdocuments. When inserting a
subdocument into a main document and using the drive letter, Word
changes it to the UNC path. NOT desired behavior!! Server's don't last
forever, but hopefully drive letters do...

The aforementioned registry hack doesn't work for us either. I hope
there is a workaround or hotfix released for this. Beth, do you think
you could help us out here please?? Thanks,

John Hubbard

 

[Beth Melton]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for catching the DWord instead of Binary. I was going from
memory on this.

I knew it was no longer an available Reg Hack in Support.dot but
Microsoft tries not to remove functionality and without a means of
testing this I wasn't sure. Sorry you went through the trouble of it
not working.

Other than that you might try using the Hyperlink Base found under
File/Properties/Summary but I haven't heard much success using it
either.

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Michael Bednarek]

[snip]

Other than that you might try using the Hyperlink Base found under
File/Properties/Summary but I haven't heard much success using it
either.

[snip]

Thanks for that hint, but like you I found that it doesn't change
anything in Word's behaviour. It seems that it simply converts the
Hyperlink Base entered as a drive letter to its UNC and strips that from
the display but prepends it to the balloon text when hovering over a
link and the action when a link is clicked.

We spent an awful lot of money to implement live continuous replication
between our file servers in Brisbane and London. Now it turns out that
Word -and Excel- conspire to negate the benefits of such a system.

Not happy, Bill!

I now face the difficult task of persuading about one third of our users
to discontinue using Word as their Outlook editor, and what's worse, to
re-educate all users not to use hyperlinks in Word (or Excel) but to use
simple text which they have to copy/paste into "File open" dialogues.

Not happy, Bill!

 

[Beth Melton]

I hear you Michael.

I've been meaning to dig a little deeper into this issue for awhile
now so it sounds like this would be a good time. I'll be able to do
some additional testing on this next week when I have a larger network
available. If I find anything substantial I'll post back to this
thread.

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

[snip]

Other than that you might try using the Hyperlink Base found under
File/Properties/Summary but I haven't heard much success using it
either.

[snip]

Thanks for that hint, but like you I found that it doesn't change
anything in Word's behaviour. It seems that it simply converts the
Hyperlink Base entered as a drive letter to its UNC and strips that
from
the display but prepends it to the balloon text when hovering over a
link and the action when a link is clicked.

We spent an awful lot of money to implement live continuous
replication
between our file servers in Brisbane and London. Now it turns out
that
Word -and Excel- conspire to negate the benefits of such a system.

Not happy, Bill!

I now face the difficult task of persuading about one third of our
users
to discontinue using Word as their Outlook editor, and what's worse,
to
re-educate all users not to use hyperlinks in Word (or Excel) but to
use
simple text which they have to copy/paste into "File open"
dialogues.

Not happy, Bill!

 

[Michael Bednarek]

I hear you Michael.

I've been meaning to dig a little deeper into this issue for awhile
now so it sounds like this would be a good time. I'll be able to do
some additional testing on this next week when I have a larger network
available. If I find anything substantial I'll post back to this
thread.

I'll be much obliged.

[snip]

Other than that you might try using the Hyperlink Base found under
File/Properties/Summary but I haven't heard much success using it
either.

[snip]

Thanks for that hint, but like you I found that it doesn't change
anything in Word's behaviour. It seems that it simply converts the
Hyperlink Base entered as a drive letter to its UNC and strips that
from
the display but prepends it to the balloon text when hovering over a
link and the action when a link is clicked.

We spent an awful lot of money to implement live continuous
replication
between our file servers in Brisbane and London. Now it turns out
that
Word -and Excel- conspire to negate the benefits of such a system.

Not happy, Bill!

I now face the difficult task of persuading about one third of our
users
to discontinue using Word as their Outlook editor, and what's worse,
to
re-educate all users not to use hyperlinks in Word (or Excel) but to
use
simple text which they have to copy/paste into "File open"
dialogues.

Not happy, Bill!

 

[J. Hubbard]

Thanks in advance for your efforts, Beth. We would love to get this
taken care of as well, as I personally believe that Word should offer
a choice between the UNC path and the drive letter path when inserting
a subdocument. Take care,

John Hubbard

I hear you Michael.

I've been meaning to dig a little deeper into this issue for awhile
now so it sounds like this would be a good time. I'll be able to do
some additional testing on this next week when I have a larger network
available. If I find anything substantial I'll post back to this
thread.

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

[snip]

Other than that you might try using the Hyperlink Base found under
File/Properties/Summary but I haven't heard much success using it
either.

[snip]

Thanks for that hint, but like you I found that it doesn't change
anything in Word's behaviour. It seems that it simply converts the
Hyperlink Base entered as a drive letter to its UNC and strips that
from
the display but prepends it to the balloon text when hovering over a
link and the action when a link is clicked.

We spent an awful lot of money to implement live continuous
replication
between our file servers in Brisbane and London. Now it turns out
that
Word -and Excel- conspire to negate the benefits of such a system.

Not happy, Bill!

I now face the difficult task of persuading about one third of our
users
to discontinue using Word as their Outlook editor, and what's worse,
to
re-educate all users not to use hyperlinks in Word (or Excel) but to
use
simple text which they have to copy/paste into "File open"
dialogues.

Not happy, Bill!

 

[Beth Melton]

Okay, I was able to finally repro the problem - sorry it took so long.
I think I may have found the solution, thanks to some discussion on a
similar issue in another newsgroup.

See if the following works for you as well:
- Go to Tools/Options/General
- Click the Web Options command
- On the Files tab turn off "Update links on save"

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Guest]

Okay, I was able to finally repro the problem - sorry it took so long.
I think I may have found the solution, thanks to some discussion on a
similar issue in another newsgroup.

See if the following works for you as well:
- Go to Tools/Options/General
- Click the Web Options command
- On the Files tab turn off "Update links on save"

I'm afraid that didn't make any difference for me - the underlying link
is still converted to UNC. Does anybody else (John Hubbard?) see any
difference?

 

[Michael Bednarek]

I'm afraid that didn't make any difference for me - the underlying link
is still converted to UNC. Does anybody else (John Hubbard?) see any
difference?

And another thing:
I found KB articles 322955 (for W9) and 323013 (for W11).

These two articles seem somewhat inconsistent: one calls the value in
question "Volume", the other "VolumePref". Both articles claim that to
"use the drive letter or UNC as typed" is the default - I think we have
established that that's not the case. I could not find a version of
these articles specifically for W11.

Anyway, I created the registry entries mentioned in those articles for
10.0 and 11.0 (I'm using 11), both as "Volume" and as "VolumePref" and
set their values to 1 - neither made any change to the previously
described behaviour.

 

[Beth Melton]

Hi Michael,

Can you provide us with some exact repro steps?

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Michael Bednarek]

Can you provide us with some exact repro steps?

I can't quite see how you cannot reproduce the behaviour I described:
here, each and every hyperlink to a file on a network file server will
refer to its UNC translation, never to a drive letter. Does that not
happen in your enviroment?

From my original post in this thread:

When I insert a Hyperlink into a document pointing to a file on our
network server, say, F:\SomeDir\Some.doc, WinWord inserts a hyperlink of
the form \\server\share\SomeDir\Some.doc

In detail:
Open Word (10 or 12, I don't have 11),
Menu: Insert/Hyperlink...
In "Address:" box type or navigate to any file on a mapped network
drive; actually, F:\ will do.
The resulting hyperlink will refer to the UNC location of that mapped
drive letter, and the ballon text will comfirm this.

This is in contradiction to the documentation which says: "the drive
letter or UNC as typed" will be used by default.

 

[Beth Melton]

Hi Michael,

I realize the steps are fairly simple but based on my past experience
I've found it never hurts to request repro steps.

I'm in the process of writing up this issue and I'll post back once I
get a little more information.

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Michael Bednarek]

Hi Michael,

I realize the steps are fairly simple but based on my past experience
I've found it never hurts to request repro steps.

I'm in the process of writing up this issue and I'll post back once I
get a little more information.

Sorry if my last message sounded a bit exasperated - that was not the
intent. I really appreciate your efforts very much.

FYI: our current workaround is to copy the name of a file from Explorer
(where we have a context menu item: Copy Name) as text into a document -
that's the equivalent of Insert Hyperlink, only this method will create
simply text containing the full filename. To use that file (the
equivalent of clicking a hyperlink), the reverse happens: the full
filename is copied from the document into Word's, Excel's, or whatever
application's Open File dialogue.

 

[Beth Melton]

No worries, Michael. I understand how frustrating a situation like
this can be. It seems like it should be soooo simple! (Which is why
I've been avoiding this issue lol)

I'll let you know as soon as I find anything.

Also since I'm unable to try these things myself right now could you
try these scenarios and answer a few additional questions?

- What format are you using for new email messages? Rich Text or HTML?
- Does the problem occur if you are using Plain Text?
- What happens if you type the path to the document instead of using
the Insert/Hyperlink dialog?
- What happens if you copy/paste the file path from the Explorer's
address bar?
- If you turn off the "Update links on save" option does the problem
occur in a regular Word document? (IOW when you aren't creating an
email)
- Along with the above scenario, does the problem occur if you are not
using Word as the email editor in a Word document?

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Michael Bednarek]

No worries, Michael. I understand how frustrating a situation like
this can be. It seems like it should be soooo simple! (Which is why
I've been avoiding this issue lol)

I'll let you know as soon as I find anything.

Also since I'm unable to try these things myself right now could you
try these scenarios and answer a few additional questions?

In a Word document, just try to insert a hyperlink to a file on a
network drive using drive letter notation: F:\somedir\somefile.doc and
observe the ballon text for that hyperlink.

- What format are you using for new email messages? Rich Text or HTML?

HTM, but the behaviour is the same for RTF.

- Does the problem occur if you are using Plain Text?

No, because Plain Text has no concept of Hyperlinks.

- What happens if you type the path to the document instead of using
the Insert/Hyperlink dialog?

Paths/filenames typed into the document remain as typed - that's what we
currently do instead of creating Hyperlinks. The typed paths/filenames
are of course not clickable.

- What happens if you copy/paste the file path from the Explorer's
address bar?

Same a above: stays as typed but it's not clickable.

- If you turn off the "Update links on save" option does the problem
occur in a regular Word document? (IOW when you aren't creating an
email)

Yes, the problem continues.

- Along with the above scenario, does the problem occur if you are not
using Word as the email editor in a Word document?

No, the native Outlook editor behaves correctly. The whole problem of
Word converting hyperlink addresses from drive letter format to UNC
format is independent of Word being used as the e-mail editor; Word will
do that when used stand-alone, too. In fact, Excel does the same thing.
However, using native Outlook (11) as HTML (or RTF) editor, this problem
does not occur.

Let me also point out my post from 24 Oct 2004 18:54:59 +1000 regarding
KB articles 322955 (for W9) and 323013 (for W11).

 

[Beth Melton]

In a Word document, just try to insert a hyperlink to a file on a
network drive using drive letter notation: F:\somedir\somefile.doc
and
observe the ballon text for that hyperlink.

Yes, I observed this as well. I also observed it not occurring when
the "Update links on save" option was not turned on. (At least I
thought I did, I need to do more testing)

No, because Plain Text has no concept of Hyperlinks.

Duh, that's right. I stopped using Word as my email editor long ago...

Paths/filenames typed into the document remain as typed - that's
what we
currently do instead of creating Hyperlinks. The typed
paths/filenames
are of course not clickable.

I was also thinking of the AutoFormat option here, but that only
applies to UNC paths.

Same a above: stays as typed but it's not clickable.

Same thought as above.

No, the native Outlook editor behaves correctly. The whole problem
of
Word converting hyperlink addresses from drive letter format to UNC
format is independent of Word being used as the e-mail editor; Word
will
do that when used stand-alone, too. In fact, Excel does the same
thing.
However, using native Outlook (11) as HTML (or RTF) editor, this
problem
does not occur.

As I noted previously, I *thought* I had a mapped hyperlink when I
turned off the "Update links on save" option during my tests. I wanted
to see if you could produce the same results in a regular Word
document independent of using Word as the email editor.

Let me also point out my post from 24 Oct 2004 18:54:59 +1000
regarding
KB articles 322955 (for W9) and 323013 (for W11).

I also saw the articles. 323013 btw, is for Word 10. Word 11 is Word
2003.

Thanks for verifying. Unfortunately, aside from the last scenario, the
answers were as I expected. :-(

I keep you updated.

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/

 

[Beth Melton]

Something else to try. I've received some feedback on my request
regarding UNC hyperlinks.

There was an update to force Word to use UNC in Word 2002:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=833034

It was probably incorporated into Word 2003. Try reversing the steps
of the article. Check for the reg key and you have it delete it. If
not then try creating the key it and setting the value to 0 instead of
1

--
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email can not be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/