› ›
Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it, follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.
Our rules have been updated and given their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!

Linking Spreadsheet Data in Word -- No Auto-Update Over Network?

TL DRTL DR Registered User regular
in Help / Advice Forum
Hi, and thanks in advance.

I'm trying to set up a Word doc with some data fields from a spreadsheet. Both files are hosted on the network, and when I open the Word doc I get the "Do you want to automatically update the linked fields?" dialogue. Selecting 'yes', however, doesn't update the fields.

If I move the spreadsheet to my local HDD, the fields update as I update them in Excel.

Anyone know a solution here? Thanks!

TL DR on
eokNV.jpg
• Agree Awesome

Posts

  • GanluanGanluan Registered User regular
    Where are they hosted in your network? An IIS server, file server, etc?

    TrueAchievements Profile
    • Agree Awesome
  • TL DRTL DR Registered User regular
    A file server.

    eokNV.jpg
    • Agree Awesome
  • FeralFeral Who needs a medical license when you've got style? Registered User regular
    The path to the data is probably wrong.

    My guess is that somebody created the file on their local hard drive, then uploaded it to a network drive, and now the Word document is looking for an Excel document in C:\Documents and Settings\ladygaga\My Documents and now the Excel document is in \\server\data\profiles\ladygaga.

    Try this. Assuming it's Word 2007/2010, go to Data, Connections. Find the connection and go to Properties. Turn on "Prompt for file name on refresh." Refresh the data. It should prompt you for the data source file. Choose the file in its new location. Make sure the data populates. If it does, turn off the "Prompt for file name on refresh" option and then save the file.

    I am comforted by Richard Dawkins’ theory of memes. Those are mental units: thoughts, ideas, gestures, notions, songs, beliefs, rhymes, ideals, teachings, sayings, phrases, clichés that move from mind to mind as genes move from body to body. After a lifetime of writing, teaching, broadcasting and telling too many jokes, I will leave behind more memes than many. They will all also eventually die, but so it goes. - Roger Ebert, I Do Not Fear Death
    • Agree Awesome
  • GanluanGanluan Registered User regular
    This is probably a stupid question, but have you checked to make sure the insert tag is pointing to the right location? If you created the insert tags on your local machine and then uploaded them, they won't be looking in the correct spot.

    TrueAchievements Profile
    • Agree Awesome
  • TL DRTL DR Registered User regular
    The spreadsheet and Word doc already existed on the network share when I inserted the links.

    eokNV.jpg
    • Agree Awesome
  • TL DRTL DR Registered User regular
    Feral wrote: »
    The path to the data is probably wrong.

    My guess is that somebody created the file on their local hard drive, then uploaded it to a network drive, and now the Word document is looking for an Excel document in C:\Documents and Settings\ladygaga\My Documents and now the Excel document is in \\server\data\profiles\ladygaga.

    Try this. Assuming it's Word 2007/2010, go to Data, Connections. Find the connection and go to Properties. Turn on "Prompt for file name on refresh." Refresh the data. It should prompt you for the data source file. Choose the file in its new location. Make sure the data populates. If it does, turn off the "Prompt for file name on refresh" option and then save the file.

    I'm not seeing the Data > Connections options anywhere in Word, though it is in Excel (2010, btw). No connections are listed in Excel, which makes sense as the data is being linked in Word and not vice versa.

    eokNV.jpg
    • Agree Awesome
  • TL DRTL DR Registered User regular
    I guess since the only people editing these docs are going to be IT folk, it's not a big deal for them to remember to Ctrl+A and F9 every time.

    Now the issue is that moving content in the spreadsheet results in empty cells in the document. :?

    eokNV.jpg
    • Agree Awesome
Sign In or Register to comment.
› ›