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Hyperlink not working in Excel

I am new to file sharing on Dropbox and am looking to use Dropbox to house an excel spreadsheet which has hyperlinks to pdf's. I emailed the spreadsheet as an attachment to my colleague direct from excel and when they opened the spreadsheet and clicked on the hyperlink for the PDF they got an error message stating the PDF's were not available or something along those lines. Note, when I click on the hyperlinks from my computer, they go right to the PDF's with no issue, but I am assuming that's due to the fact that I am working on the PC that has Dropbox downloaded and it's pulling from those files.

In doing some research, I think what I need to do is move all the data (pdf's and spreadsheet) in a folder that I share with my colleague, so when he opens it he is able to click through to the PDF's. Is that accurate?

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Walter

Hey there @StefC - how are you today?

Let me shed some light into this so you can have a clear view of why it's happening and you can decide if you'd like to share a folder with those PDFs with your colleague after all. Read on for more context:

In Microsoft Excel, you can create links in a workbook to another workbook or file on your computer using a formula that references an external location. When this link is created, it points to a location on your own hard drive.

When your workbook is downloaded onto another's computer, the locations that your formula points to are no longer there. The link in the workbook is looking for a specific place, for example /Your_Computer/Your_User/File, and that location is no longer accessible from a different computer.

To learn more about relative and external paths in Excel please consult the following Microsoft support page: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/328440/description-of-link-management-and-storage-in-excel

While we are unable to support you in configuring Microsoft Excel to work the way you would like, we suggest perhaps using wildcards in your formulas. Wildcards, such as "%HOMEPATH%”, if other users have the Dropbox folder located in the default location, would let you point to a location without having to worry about different usernames in the path.

I hope this information helps and please let me know if there's anything else I can do from my end to assist with this.

All comments

Walter

Hey there @StefC - how are you today?

I hope this information helps and please let me know if there's anything else I can do from my end to assist with this.

StefC

What a quick reply! Thank you so much, @Walter, that's exactly what I needed to know! That makes perfect sense.

So, let me ask you something else - If I were to figure out this wildcard workaround, hyperlinks would still need to be pulled from a shared folder and the end user would need to have dropbox located in the same place as I do on my computer, correct? So, in essence, they are following the same path to get to the Dropbox file? Would this wildcard workaround be valid if the end user wanted to access the excel file from dropbox online or from a different computer than his usual?

Walter

I don't think so @StefC - wildcards such as this one can be used for accessing those Excel spreadsheets' hyperlinks to your PDF files only on Windows computers also running our desktop app, having the Dropbox Folder in the same location as you, in order to point to the exact same filepath.

Moreover, all users will have to have those PDF files stored within the same (shared) folder - it's the only way to keep the same filepath and not break the hyperlinks.

This means that if you're having your Dropbox folder located to your C drive, the other parties will also have to have their Dropbox folders located there as well.

Just note that this could prove to be problematic as anyone is able to move or rename their copy of a shared folder without it affecting the other members of the shared folder in question.

Let me know if this makes sense to you and if there's anything I can clear up in regards to this matter Stef - I'll be glad to help!

Karla3

I created a spreadsheet with hyperlinks and although i have uploaded the entire folder and it recognised that there are links, nothing happens when you 'click' on it'. Please help?

Jane

Hey @Karla3, that’s a great question! Kindly note that I moved your inquiry under this discussion, as it looks like what you’re experiencing is similar discrepancy to what has been described on this conversation.

Please have a look at the info relayed above at your earliest convenience & let me know how if you have any additional questions or if I’ve misunderstood your question in any way. Thanks!

Borq

When I open on my desktop computer an Excel file I have created on my laptop, if the file contains links to another file in the same dropbox (different folders within the root Dropbox folder), the links don't work, even though both files are on the same Dropbox where I am the only user. I can see that this is because Excel adds the computer's hard drive name to the path (in my case this is Users/Adam's Mac/... on one computer, vs. Users/AM/... on another). But why is this even put in the path, since whenever the link is created, it should not contain anything more down the path than the first common folder, in my case .../Dropbox/... ? Or am I missing something about relative link adresses? Isn't Dropbox supposed to be the tool for sharing the same files across (own) multiple devices?

Any ideas on how to overcome this?

Jane

Hey @Borq, I’ve now moved your post under this discussion, just so as to point you to Walter’s reply to the OP. That said, it would be worth mentioning that wildcards offer an alternative shortcut to entering path specifications on your device (and if set correctly across devices as well), whereas Dropbox mirrors your files to the Dropbox servers & lets you store the directory structure listed online across connected devices.

Hopefully my message points you towards the right direction & please do let me know my advice works for you or in case you have any follow-up questions. Have a great rest of your day until we talk again!

Borq

Hey, Walter! Does this syntax "%HOMEPATH%” work in Mac OS or only in Windows? It seems like a DOS syntax, will it work on my airbook as well? If so, how? When I do find and replace with this wildcard, Excel cannot find the path. The only thing that works is when, right after opening the spreadsheet on another comuter without updating the links, I replace the actual syntax without wildcards, in my case from /Users/Adam's Mac/ to /Users/AM/ and back again when I go back to my airbook from the desktop.

Walter

I don't think it will to be honest @Borq; probably due to how the Mac OS was designed to begin with as Windows' OS has a different path separator and handles UNC differently from Mac's OS.

Moreover, as I won't be able to assist further with this since it falls outside the scope of my expertise at this point, I'd suggest searching the web for a work-around as you might be able to find something useful.

I wish I could help more than this.

SecretaryBJS

This is exactly my problem however I have a query, at what point in the hyperlink do you suggest placing the wildcard This is an example of a path to a file I want users to access from an Excel spreadsheet - obviously this is my path \Dropbox (Busselton Jetty Swim)\2020 Event\2020 Event Management\Compliance Documents\City of Busselton.

thanks

SecretaryBJS

Hi, the earlier query may have been answered however I lodged a further query on this same issue. Please advise on where exactly the wildcard should be placed in the hyperlink to link to a document on another user's system. thanks

Walter

Sorry for the late reply @SecretaryBJS; how are you today?

Even though this fall outside the scope of my expertise (perhaps you'd be better off asking in a Microsoft forum), I'll try to help as much as I can with this.

In your example, the wildcard (%HOMEPATH%), will need to replace the '\Dropbox (Busselton Jetty Swim)' portion but note that for this to work, all the members accessing those spreadsheets will need to have their Dropbox Folder on the same location as you (their D drive in this case) in order for those links to not break and be functional as normal.

Note that I'd still suggest you also asked Microsoft directly about how you should go with the task at hand as this is out of our remit.

I hope this helps to a certain extent and feel free to give this a try but note that YMMV.

SecretaryBJS

Thank you Walter. You are correct, our members have their own 'filing' of shared folders so i am working from the Microsoft end and attempting to link to the web version for certain folders. Thank you for your suggestion.

jnewton

Hi All

We have a shared dropbox folder at work. We have a master document (excel spreadsheet) where we dump the raw data and another spreadsheet where we tidy it up into charts to then print off. On my laptop we have it so when the raw data in the master doc changes the charts in the other document update automatically. However, when someone else accesses the document through dropbox the link cannot be found as the file location is specific to the user that created. For example the cells that are linked read ='/Users/jnewton/Dropbox/ etc. Then when another user accesses or changes the data in the master document it doesnt update as they are not user 'jnewton' for example. Is there any way around this so all users who have access to the dropbox folder could update the master doc and the other spreadsheet will auto update?

Thank you in advance,

Joe

Fiona

Hey Joe @jnewton! Welcome to our Community and your first group discussion.

I moved your question here. I believe you will find all the answers you are looking for in page 1.

If not, let me know and I will be back to continue our discussion. :nerd:

Thank you!

SecretaryBJS

I had this same issue and looked up MS Office help for the solution - the wild card solution didn't work for me as we have many Dropbox users who have different folder structures, etc. I simply use the 'copy Dropbox link' from either File Explorer or the web Dropbox, paste into the cell of Excel that I want another user to use to obtain/view the file (either PDF or Word/Excel/etc) and then press 'tab' to make the hyperlink 'live' and the link then takes the user to the Dropbox website version of the file or folder (which ever link is required). I have found you cannot create a hyperlink using the dialog box of Office/insert link/insert hyperlink because it takes you to the path used by your own system, ie Drive D in my case, even if you point it to 'existing file or webpage' within this dialog box.

JasonCES

I'm having this same issue, I think my solution is in this discussion but need help!

The users at our company are using the same spreadsheet but it is synced to their individual computers. So when I create a hyperlink it looks like this - file:///C:\Users\CES - Jason\Dropbox (CES, LLC)\CES Business Management\ACCOUNTING\CS JOB SUMMARY.xlsx - Summary!A1. When another user trys to open it after it has synced they can not open it. If they create a hyperlink it looks like this - file:///C:\Users\CES - Tasa\Dropbox (CES, LLC)\CES Business Management\ACCOUNTING\CS JOB SUMMARY.xlsx - Summary!A1. And I can't open it after it syncs. I'm thinking the %HOMEPATH% option would work but i don't know how or where to put it. BTW - we are on Office 365 and I don't think this happened before we went to it??? HELP!! THANKS!!

SecretaryBJS

I have done some more research and the attached works for me and my team. Believe me, we are all inexperienced when using Dropbox, especially some members of my team.