Relative paths in Word to linked files

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rkossik
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Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2017 12:12 pm

Relative paths in Word to linked files

Post by rkossik »

This is really a Word question, not a D2H question, but it has me stymied on my D2H project and I am dumbfounded by it and can't find any good solutions online. I have a large D2H project with thousands of linked images (bmp). The source documents were all done in Word 2003 (.doc files). I recently converted the files to Word 2013. When I did so, all of the links (which are relative links in Word 2003) become absolute links in the .docx files! This is a disaster for two reasons: 1) If I select a linked image in the word document and press the Edit Links to Files button, it does not select the actual filename anymore (so identifying the file if I need to update it becomes difficult); 2) I can't move the project to another user, as all the links are broken. Yikes. Has anyone dealt with this issue? Am I missing something obvious? I can't believe that Microsoft would simply convert relative links to absolute links.
Last edited by rkossik on Fri Feb 17, 2017 3:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
SKamprowski
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Location: Germany

Re: Relative paths in Word to linked files

Post by SKamprowski »

Hi,
this is a Word problem. I found the following link with a solution I never tested:
http://superuser.com/questions/622460/u ... -word-2013

PLEASE let us know whether this helps. I don't know how reliable this source is.
You may find more in the internet.
Kind regards,
Sabine Kamprowski
DocToHelp MVP (by ComponentOne)
rkossik
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Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2017 12:12 pm

Re: Relative paths in Word to linked files

Post by rkossik »

Yes, I found this one myself. It does not work. By the way, it appears that unlike Word 2003, inserted images (inserted via the Insert|Picture) are not represented as field codes in Word 2013. Alt-F9 does nothing.
SKamprowski
Sr. Propeller Head
Posts: 277
Joined: Fri Feb 13, 2015 8:25 am
Location: Germany

Re: Relative paths in Word to linked files

Post by SKamprowski »

Hi,

I believe that the advice given in D2H's documentation (see especially step 8 in
http://help.madcapsoftware.com/d2h4/Con ... t=pictures )
resolves your original problem, means moving a project to another colleague should work with it.
Kind regards,
Sabine Kamprowski
DocToHelp MVP (by ComponentOne)
rkossik
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Re: Relative paths in Word to linked files

Post by rkossik »

No that does not work. That is exactly what I do (although I have always used "Link" instead of "Insert and Link"). In both cases, however, the link is absolute, not relative. Hence, when the project gets moved, it does not work...
rkossik
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Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2017 12:12 pm

Re: Relative paths in Word to linked files

Post by rkossik »

Ended up having to write a macro that converted all of the Insert Picture links to an Include Picture field code. That seems to respect relative paths. Of course, no comments/help at all from Microsoft on this. They don't explain anywhere why Insert Picture and Include Picture are treated differently in Word 2010 (but the same in Word 2003). The complete lack of interest Microsoft has in actually documenting their software continues to amaze me...
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