Hyperlink not working in Excel

[StefC]

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?

[Walter · Accepted solution]

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. 

[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.