BACKGROUND:

- I am using Excel for the first time to produce a printed publication using data-base publishing. The design software is Adobe InDesign using Data Merge. However, the problem isn't with InDesign, its with Excel.
- There are multiple apartment communities and each has photos, floor plans and logos.
- All images (600+) are in the same folder.
- All images are .jpg files
- I'm on a Mac not a PC
- All images are stored in a folder on my desktop

ASSUMPTION:

I'm assuming there is an easier way to create hyperlinks to photos besides the manual "Insert> Hyperlink> Display As> Link to>....." way I am currently doing this. It is taking way too long to do each hyperlink individually.


IMAGE FOLDER PATH:

/Users/melissa/Desktop/APARTMENT_LOCATOR/IMAGES

ImagesFolder.jpg


EXCEL SPREADSHEET IS SET UP LIKE THIS:

ExcelPic.jpg


THERE ARE OTHER IMAGES FOR EACH PROPERTY IN ADDITION TO PHOTOS (FLOOR PLANS & LOGOS):

ExcelPic2.jpg


WHAT I NEED:

- It seems like there should be a way to designate or specify a particular folder in which the computer knows to search for the named file so that you can just name the file to search for but I can't figure it out.
- I would like to be able to add a column or something where I type the path "/Users/melissa/Desktop/APARTMENT_LOCATOR/IMAGES" and then just use the file names in the cell for each image.
- I must also share this file with my web guys so they can use the same information for the website. However, the links will all be to my desktop. I would like to be able to send them the Excel spreadsheet and my image folder BUT would like for them to be able to replace my path (/Users/melissa/Desktop/APARTMENT_LOCATOR/IMAGES) with their own path to the image folder so the links are updated to access their server. Obviously, the links to my desktop will not work for them.


OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER:
- I'm a designer - not a tech person and have never even opened an Excel file until last week so I am not exactly skilled in how this program works. Please type slowly and use small words I can understand :-)
- I'm a Mac user not a PC user so I understand some of the path info and command info is different
- If there is something specific in a formula (like "link to cell B2 & B3, etc.") does that information still work if the rows are re-ordered, say alphabetically? Because I will continually be adding additional properties and they won't always be in the same row every time. What was in row B may be in row F next week.
- Last but not least... I have looming deadlines and need to figure this ASAP

Thank you, in advance, for any help you can offer!!! I'm really in a fix and would appreciate any help you can give me!!!