Update Links - Problem

Hi,

I have the following situation:
1 Folder that contains 10 WBs + 1 WB for consolidation

The folder is located under \\home share\FolderName\...
Now, so far no problem at all, every week, I can update the consolidation WB
according to the changes in the 10WBs.

Since last week, my company asked me to put the folder under:
\\home share\Data folder\FolderName\...
I did so and of course, had to try changing the source link according to the
new path.

Well, when I try to do so Edit\Links|ChangeSource, I browse to the new path
and click OK, but a message pops up saying that the file cannot be found, I
click OK and the folder where the file actually is appears, I click cancel,
it re-appears, and so on for around ten times, then the link changes.
This is certainly very strange.

But, when I get to update the third link (to WB 3) it says that the path
name is too long.

The old location path name was \\home share\FolderName\... 34 characters
The new is 39

The new "DATA" folder under which I have to put my folder is a company one
which is automatically syncronized every day and therefore it allows me to
set the folder as "make it available off line" and have it on my PC when not
in the office.

Any idea why I cannot get the links to change?

Thank you
Alex

Hi,

Is anybody able to reply?
Am I in the right forum or maybe should I post this in Programming?

Thank you
Alex

"Metallo" wrote:

Hi,

I have the following situation:
1 Folder that contains 10 WBs + 1 WB for consolidation

The folder is located under \\home share\FolderName\...
Now, so far no problem at all, every week, I can update the consolidation WB
according to the changes in the 10WBs.

Since last week, my company asked me to put the folder under:
\\home share\Data folder\FolderName\...
I did so and of course, had to try changing the source link according to the
new path.

Well, when I try to do so Edit\Links|ChangeSource, I browse to the new path
and click OK, but a message pops up saying that the file cannot be found, I
click OK and the folder where the file actually is appears, I click cancel,
it re-appears, and so on for around ten times, then the link changes.
This is certainly very strange.

But, when I get to update the third link (to WB 3) it says that the path
name is too long.

The old location path name was \\home share\FolderName\... 34 characters
The new is 39

The new "DATA" folder under which I have to put my folder is a company one
which is automatically syncronized every day and therefore it allows me to
set the folder as "make it available off line" and have it on my PC when not
in the office.

Any idea why I cannot get the links to change?

Thank you
Alex

Metallo wrote:
Is anybody able to reply?
Am I in the right forum or maybe should I post this in Programming?


This is the appropriate section.

I would like to be able to answer the question but it is not a
behaviour I have experienced so I don't know the answer for certain.

In my experience, if the source workbooks and the destination workbook
are in the same folder then no adjustment should be needed to links if
all the workbooks are moved to a different folder (since the links are
effectively held as relative links).

However, if you sometimes access a file via a drive letter and
sometimes via a UNC filename (\\home share\...) then Excel can
sometimes fail to recognise that the two files are in the same
directory and then has to use the full path to the destination file.

If the full path is too long then I can imagine there are problems.
Can you shorten the path at all by using shorter folder names?

Which version of Excel?
What is the full path of the file that fails to relink?

You could try moving all the files to your local machine (with a short
path), relink the files there, then move them back using Windows
Explorer, not Excel File / Save As, to the network folder. That should
make the links behave as relative links I think.

Bill Manville
MVP - Microsoft Excel, Oxford, England
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