Problem linking PDF to Excel 2013 cell...

I am new to a part time job and the first task was to scan a large number of tax documents into the computer. I've done this and given each one a unique name. These files are on the C drive under the MY SCANS folder with a .pdf extension.
Then I created a spreadsheet enter the various bits of information on a large number of property holdings. I thought that I would be able to use the hyperlink function and connect the tax document to the appropriate cell for each holding. For example, in the spreadsheet I have column for the Property Tax ID Number. For each of those unique numbers, there is a scanned document named with that Property Tax ID Number.
In the spreadsheet I then selected a cell and created a hyperlink by right clicking on Insert Hyperlink. Went to the dialogue box and navigated to the correct pdf document and selected it.
After doing a few and checking to see that all was working OK, I continued to move through this large list. The next day when I started up again, I was preparing to work through the steps to show my employer how to access the tax document from the hyperlink on the spreadsheet. But all I got was a message " Cannot find the specified file."

Have done some researching and have not found much to help me figure out what is happening. I am obviously not phrasing my question correctly. I have never had problems with hyperlinks before, but then I was trying to hyperlink PDF's.

Any simple solutions out there? Or am I approaching this the wrong way.

TIA

Hi,

First, i would check if the hyperlink is still linked to the file

Right click on the hyperlink, click edit hyperlink and see the path in the "address" is correct and check if the file really exists in the folder.

If yes, let us know.. There are quick solutions around

Thought I had this solved, but I was wrong. The links are still there. I had saved files as PDF, but converted them to MS Word docs. All seemed to work so I copied the file to my flash drive. Today when I got back to the office (I only work 2 days per week at this particular office) and opened up the Excel spreadsheet with the hyperlinks, I got the same message as before "Can't find the specified file." This is really frustrating because of the size of this particular spreadsheet. I can go back in and edit the hyperlinks individually again. But I don't have any assurance they will continue to work. The really strange part is that the spreadsheets I built today ( and I did them the same way except I save the scanned docs as MS Word docs first not PDFs) and saved to my flash drive worked correctly on my home computer. All the hyperlinks I created today at work worked here at home. Feel like I am going nuts. I live in a small rural town without any real software "geeks." LOL
25+ years ago (before the days of the internet) when I couldn't figure out how to do to something, I could just go to a computer store in the city and someone would help me even it what I wanted to do seemed impossible. One time I wanted to merge info from a spreadsheet into a form letter in the original consumer Appleworks program. I was told it probably could not be done. But I was the first teacher at my school to create progress reports by doing just that though without using a commercial gradebook program. And it worked well. So I am not unfamiliar with trying to do things "out of the box." But even following the directions I have found for creating "working" hyperlinks in Excel 2013, I am having major issues. And the real kicker for me is that there are many more documents, maps and deeds, that need to be linked to the spreadsheet. So what were some of those quick solutions??

Hello,

Please see if this works.

If you are using windows, navigate to the folder ( i guess it's c:MY SCANS) where you have the word files /pdf etc etc, which you want to create hyperlink.

Select all the files with Ctlr+A. Now, press Shift+mouse right click, in the menu select "copy as path". Now all the file full path of the files should have been copied.

Open a new file in excel. Click paste. Now you will have all the full file paths in a column. Assuming you pasted the path in ColumnA, In Column B1 copy paste the formula, and drag

=hyperlink(a1)

I prefer you save this excel file in the same folder where you have the pdf/docs etc. I hope the hyperlink won't break now

Thanks so much for your replies to my questions. I will certainly try this when I go in next Thursday.

Just want to "talk" this through as I can't practice here at home..so after copying and pasting the links into Column A by pasting into A1, I type "=hyperlink(a1) into B1, I am assuming that I replicate down Column B. And you are indicating that I should save this file at the same location my pdfs or docs reside. My original pdfs are in MY SCANS and this iwhere you suggest I save the Excel file with the hyperlinks, correct? Then when I open the spreadsheet I am building and want to place a hyperlink in a cell to connect a particular property ID with a specific scanned tax document, I right click on the cell and navigate down to the hyperlink command and then when the Insert Hyperlink dialogue box opens, go back to the Excel with the saved hyperlinks in MY SCANS. Do I open the spreadsheet with the saved hyperlinks with full paths at this point and then choose the one I need? I am anxious to try this next week it sounds like it will be a huge time-saver over what I have been trying to do. Where does one come by these types of tips and tricks? Is there a good Excel 2013 book that you would recommend?
Thanks so much for your time and help. Will keep you posted on how it goes. :-)

Carol

Originally Posted by elayaz

Hello,

Please see if this works.

If you are using windows, navigate to the folder ( i guess it's c:MY SCANS) where you have the word files /pdf etc etc, which you want to create hyperlink.

Select all the files with Ctlr+A. Now, press Shift+mouse right click, in the menu select "copy as path". Now all the file full path of the files should have been copied.

Open a new file in excel. Click paste. Now you will have all the full file paths in a column. Assuming you pasted the path in ColumnA, In Column B1 copy paste the formula, and drag

=hyperlink(a1)

I prefer you save this excel file in the same folder where you have the pdf/docs etc. I hope the hyperlink won't break now

Hello,

You are right till half way through Copy,pasting hyperlinks into the spreadsheet you are building won't work. Sorry.

My response is for the below situation you had described in your first post,

"For example, in the spreadsheet I have column for the Property Tax ID Number. For each of those unique numbers, there is a scanned document named with that Property Tax ID Number.
In the spreadsheet I then selected a cell and created a hyperlink by right clicking on Insert Hyperlink. Went to the dialogue box and navigated to the correct pdf document and selected it.
After doing a few and checking to see that all was working OK, I continued to move through this large list. The next day when I started up again, I was preparing to work through the steps to show my employer how to access the tax document from the hyperlink on the spreadsheet. But all I got was a message " Cannot find the specified file."

Instead of doing hyperlink for each and every scanned document, you can do mass hyper linking in the sheet you are building, which i have described in my post 2. By this way you don't need redo even it breaks. Please Try this when you come back to work.

If it didn't work the way you need, come back here. We can fix it
if possible post a sample excel with dummy data ( if your data is sensitive).

So Does this helped you by any chance?

Hello,

So, I see this thread is fairly old, but hopefully someone is still looking at it from time to time.

I am having the exact same problem Carol was having. I have PDF documents that are saved to my computer and I am attempting to link them to an Excel 2013 spreadsheet. I use the same process every time - Insert Hyperlink, use browse to create the file path, check the hyperlink to make sure it worked. I also tried the solution from above, where I went to my Windows Explorer, navigated to the document, copied the file path, pasted into my document and used '=Hyperlink a1". In both scenarios, I receive the error message "Cannot open the specified file" on some (but not all) hyperlinks. Also, like Carol said, sometimes it works at first, but then stops working when the spreadsheet is reopened. The fact that it's inconsistent is the most frustrating part. If it always worked or always failed, I wouldn't be nearly as confused.

Does anyone know if this is a recurring complaint with Excel 2013? Any ideas on how to correct this?

Thank you in advance! Cassie

Hi Cassie,
I just typed a lengthy reply and it disappeared when I tried to submit it..so here is the short version.

Nothing that was suggested to me on this forum worked just like you have stated.

What worked for me was to create a folder and then subfolder within that folder for the PDFs. The folder also contained my spreadsheet. I have found as long as they are in the same main folder the hyperlinks always work even if I copy the main folder to a flash drive and download it elsewhere. However, I have not tried this on a network as I have don't have to work in a networked environment. I discovered all this after many hours of trial and error and frustration.

I navigate to Documents->My Main Folder which contains a subfolder and the spreadsheet. As long as that Main folder contain both of the other it seems to always work.

I hope this helps. I don't have time right now to include the full example I typed out earlier of my own application, but will certainly do it a later date if it will help you. Just let me know.

Carol

Carol,

Thank you so much for your response! I will try this solution and let you know if it worked. Fingers crossed!

Cassie

Hi all, a formula below in excel file list
=HYPERLINK(VLOOKUP(D3;filename.drive!$A$1:$D$570;4;FALSE);D3)
will link the files from their respective sub-folders.
All the files are under one folder including the excel file list for the links.

PROBLEM: If the whole folder is transferred to other computers, link formula is not applicable bec.path changes.
Can someone give me an idea for the coding in purely excel formula only. The link formula must function even iif the whole folder
is transferred to other drives/computers.

Thank you in advance.

Hi,
All what you have to do is " Rename your PDF file " without including things like # .... THAT IS ALL