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Question

Please help w/Word 2003 links to documents

Jul 22, 2011 7:59AM PDT

Hi there,
So, I was able to set up a link in one of my Word 2003 documents that
went right to a bookmark in another Word 2003 document. Then, I made it
so that place in the other document was linked back to the original
starting place. The only trouble is, when I update the documents, the
links don't go to the updated documents, they go to the previous version
of the document. How can I make it so the links always go to the
updated version of the document? Many thanks for any insight here!
Aaron

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Tell a little more.
Jul 22, 2011 8:49AM PDT

Is the updated version being saved as a new file and name?

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Thanks so much for responding!
Jul 22, 2011 10:16AM PDT

Really appreciate it.
No, the updated version is not being saved as a new file with a new name.
In other words, I am doing a "Save," not a "Save As," when I update it.
Thanks again for helping me.
Aaron

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Next question. Is TRACK CHANGES turned on?
Jul 22, 2011 10:18AM PDT

If so, it may be time to roll up the changes and turn that off.

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No--track changes is off.
Jul 22, 2011 1:41PM PDT

Thanks for sticking with me!

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Answer
Re: updated document
Jul 23, 2011 12:07AM PDT

If your updated document replaces the original document, the link should still work. There's no previous version around then.
If the new version is in a different folder or is a new file (other name) in the same folder, you'll have to update the link. There's nothing you can do about that.

Kees

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Thanks for your answer
Jul 23, 2011 4:21AM PDT

I really didn't think I gave it a new file name or put it in a different folder, which is why this is perplexing me.
But, maybe I actually did? It's weird--I updated the links just to be sure and they actually work now when I open the documents on my own computer, but then I emailed the documents to someone through Gmail, and when those documents were downloaded, they have the problem I described above. Weird!

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That's it.
Jul 23, 2011 5:30AM PDT
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Oh!
Jul 23, 2011 6:54AM PDT

That's very helpful to know and I see why now--thank you. Is there a way that I can make it so that when I email the two documents that link to each other to somebody, the links can work for them on their machine? Or would they have to redo all the links themselves once they've downloaded it onto their computer?
If there's not an easy way to do what I just described, maybe I can set the documents up on Google Docs and then link them up? I know I can link within a document on Google Docs, but I'm not sure if I can link to different documents within Google Docs.
Thanks again so much for taking your the time to help--much appreciated!

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Re: linking
Jul 23, 2011 7:12AM PDT

If you want a document to link to another document even after emailing both there are two things to do:
1. Use a relative link.
2. Instruct the receiver to put the document linked to in the same relative position to the linking document as it is with you.

Step 2 is the easiest if the 2 documents are in the same folder on your PC. Then your instruction to the receiver simply is to put the 2 documents in the same folder on his PC.

Kees

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Relative links
Jul 23, 2011 5:01PM PDT

Thanks for that helpful tip--I have another question.
When I make the links, I am putting in a relative address (just has the file name of the destination document, because the destination document is in the same folder). However, when I roll the mouse over the link, a little box pops up to show where the link will take you, and it shows an absolute address. So I'm wondering if I actually did make a relative address there or not?
Aaron

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That's a good question.
Jul 23, 2011 8:28PM PDT

Two ways to find out.

1. Move (don't copy) the 2 files to another folder and see if it works.
2. Save the file as a .rtf file and open that in Notepad. Find the link. How does it look like?

Kees

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I think I'm nearly there...
Jul 25, 2011 3:39AM PDT

Many thanks for sticking with me. So, I moved (cut and pasted) the two documents to another folder on my computer, and the links still worked, which is great--so I assume that means I have in fact made relative links.
However, another problem has cropped up. As a test, I emailed these two documents to my wife's laptop, and opened them both and saved them both in the same folder there--and the links don't work--it says "Cannot open the specified file." I suspect this is the problem: when I rolled the mouse over a hyperlink, it showed that the path it was taking to the document is: "file:///C:\Documents and Settings\Janet\Local Settings\Temp\mydocument.doc#top
So, the links are trying to pull up the document from where it was initially downloaded to--the Temp folder--instead of the folder I saved it to after that. I'm not sure why it can't pull up from the Temp folder--but I don't want it to be pulling it up from the Temp folder anyway--I want it to be pulling it up from the folder I saved it to after that.
I wonder if there are settings on my wife's laptop that convert relative links to absolute links in her Word documents, and that is the problem?
I would again appreciate your valuable insight here--thank you!
Aaron

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Wrong sequence
Jul 25, 2011 4:04AM PDT

Open and save is the wrong sequence. You should save the attachment without opening them first.


So let me rewrite what I wrote above: "Then your instruction to the receiver simply is to SAVE the ATTACHMENTS in the same folder on his PC." That's something like right click>save or whatever saving an attachement in the email program is.

Kees

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Yes! That works!
Jul 25, 2011 4:25AM PDT

Oh, this is great. Thank you--I never would have figured all this out on my own. Seems to me I won't have any more questions, but I have to send these docs to my boss later today and walk him through the download process--hopefully that will go smoothly, but if not I may have another question...
Nothing like having a computer problem solved to put a smile on your face... Grin
Thanks again for your time,
Aaron

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(NT) You're welcome. Glad we could help.
Jul 25, 2011 4:28AM PDT
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Not quite out of the woods yet...
Jul 25, 2011 6:49AM PDT

Ok, so I ran into another snag...
I'm working on a PC, and I just emailed the documents to my boss, who is working on a Mac. I walked him through downloading the documents--he selected "Save Attachments" in the email message I sent him, and he said it gave him the option of where he wanted to save it, so he saved them both to his desktop as Word documents. Then he opened one of the documents, and when he clicked on a link, it said, "Links to other files unsupported and were removed."
I'm guessing that this is a PC-to-Mac problem, because when I sent these documents to my wife's PC, there was no problem--any ideas? The first time my boss tried opening a document for some reason it made it a Pages document, but I had him delete everything he downloaded and try the process again, making sure it stayed Word the whole time, but the same problem happened.
Thanks again,
Aaron

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Answer
Ouch.
Jul 25, 2011 11:25AM PDT

We didn't know the recipient was using an Apple. Ok, which version of Word is on that Apple so when or if I go look into this, I won't be missing a detail.
Bob

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Sorry about that!
Jul 25, 2011 1:23PM PDT

I apologize for not mentioning that--I asked him and he said he's using iWorks 2009--he didn't know whether he even has Word by itself or not. He said he didn't buy anything that didn't already come with his Mac laptop that he bought a year ago, and doesn't think he can start a document in Word. I guess iWorks allows him to use Word documents? I tried to get as much info as possible, I hope this is enough. I apologize again for not mentioning this information.
Thank you,
Aaron

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Additional info
Jul 25, 2011 1:28PM PDT

Here's what he said, exactly: " I have IWorks 09, which includes Pages 09 4.0.5, which allows one to export into Word."

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So it seems a feature of iWorks is ...
Jul 25, 2011 5:03PM PDT

""Links to other files unsupported and were removed."

Nothing you can do about it. So it's time for plan B and plan C. Those might be pdf (Adobe and other readers might support links to other pdf-files) or html (a browser certainly supports links). Relying on the unique features of Microsoft programs can only be done if you know that everybody who'll ever receive the document has Microsoft software. That's getting more and more unlikely with the success of Apple and the spread of tablets.

Kees

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Ok
Jul 26, 2011 12:38AM PDT

Sounds like a plan. By the way, everything you've told me up until now has been very helpful, because I still do need to know how to do this stuff on a PC-to-PC basis.
I just tried converting the docs to PDFs using Primo PDF (I don't have Adobe to make PDFs--can't afford it at the moment), and it killed all the links, so I assume the best option is to make .html documents now.
So, is the best way for me to do this to re-create the documents in .html format using Notepad--will he be able to read these files with his Mac? I copied and pasted all my Word text into Notepad and it killed the links, so I'd have to re-create those links, but that's not a big deal.
Thanks, again, so much!
Aaron

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Be sure to try out CutePDF (it's free.)
Jul 26, 2011 9:02AM PDT