Hyperlinks not working

Hyperlinks not working

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Hi,

So I have a link to a document stored on a web page.  When I copy the URL from the bar at the top, and paste into an email, the link works fine and opens the document.  Perfect.

However, when I try to paste that same URL as a hyperlink in an Excel cell, I get the message 'Unable to open....Cannot download the information you requested'.  This happens when we try to paste it into both Excel 2003 and 2007.

I know its not the link itself as that works from Outlook. Any ideas?  Google leads me to think that its possibly something to do with the link being in html format, but I can't see how to fix it if that is indeed the problem.

Thanks,

Sharon

Replies (11)

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Stepurhan
By stepurhan
27th Feb 2014 13:51

Try a quick (non) edit

If you simply paste the item into an Excel sheet, it simply recognises that text is being pasted. This is because the clipboard (where the information is stored in transfer) only recognises text and tells Excel so.

If you hit F2 (to edit) and then immediately hit return without changing anything, Excel should re-evaluate the cell contents as an entry. This means it should recognise it as a hyperlink if you have copied all of the address correctly.

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By cornwallsharon
27th Feb 2014 13:55

Afraid not

Thanks for the reply stepurhan, much appreciated.  Unfortunately that doesnt fix the problem (I did give it a go).  I was always able to get the cell to recognise that it was a hyperlink, just can't get the hyperlink to work!

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Stepurhan
By stepurhan
27th Feb 2014 14:00

Relative address

Try this then. Using Excel 2007 but you say you have that.

Click the Window button, then Prepare and Properties. A large information tab will appear at the top.

Click Document Properties on this tab, then Advanced Properties (the only choice on my version)

Click the summary tab on the Window that pops up.

At the bottom of this will be a box labelled Hyperlink base. If this has anything in it, this will be added to the start of any Hyperlink in your workbook. (creating an incorrect address). Delete it and OK to hopefully fix your problem.

 

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By cornwallsharon
27th Feb 2014 14:03

Still no :(

Just looked in that box, and the Hyperlink Base box is already empty.  What a puzzler!

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Stepurhan
By stepurhan
27th Feb 2014 15:41

Will ask Techy Friend

Well, that's all my immediate thoughts. I will ask a techy friend if he has any ideas.

EDIT : One more try. Hyperlink base box. Try entering "C:\"

This forces it to start all hyperlinks with a location that has to exist on all computers. (The hard drive that the operating system is on). If it is somehow picking up a location that doesn't exist instead, that should fix it.

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By dnicholson
27th Feb 2014 15:50

Press Enter

Try pressing Enter after you do the paste. This causes Excel to evaluate the cell and determine that it is a link. At that point it will typically underline in the sheet.

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Stepurhan
By stepurhan
27th Feb 2014 15:51

Already tried

That is what I suggested in my first post, and has already been eliminated.

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By dnicholson
27th Feb 2014 16:28

F2

Except that I didn't press F2.

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Replying to Pipperoo:
Stepurhan
By stepurhan
28th Feb 2014 16:24

That is different

dnicholson wrote:
Except that I didn't press F2.
In that case pressing Enter will do nothing, unless you started editing a cell and then pasted into the edit box rather than the cell itself. You have to already be editing the cell for Excel to re-evaluate the contents on hitting Enter. Just having the cell highlighted (which would be the case if you had just pasted) is not enough.
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By Mark Ferbert
27th Feb 2014 16:46

Hyperlinked document?

To clarify, is this a link to a Word document or other type of file stored somewhere on your network rather than a web address? It sounds as if Excel is trying to open the file within Excel  itself rather than in the default program (eg Word if it is a Word document) and hence the message about being unable to download the relevant information. Apologies if I've misunderstood the problem.

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By jndavs
28th Feb 2014 16:06

Excel hyperlink

It could be a security problem, try this:

Click the Microsoft Office Button
Excel Options
Trust Center
Trust Center Settings
External Content
Change the  Security settings to allow Workbook Links to function

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