I am trying to troubleshoot a problem with an Excel spreadsheet that includes
links to product manuals. All of the hyperlinks were functioning in the past
but certain ones no longer do.

I have tried creating a new document with new hyperlinks but get the same
problem. All of the links will open when pasted into a browser. The
problematic links are all to PDFs on the US Kohler site. For example:
http://www.us.kohler.com/onlinecatalog/pdf/111946_4.pdf. I get the error
"Unable to open http://www.us.kohler.com/onlinecatalog/pdf/111946_4.pdf.
Cannot open the specified file."

Links to PDFs on other sites (example:
http://www.zurn.com/operations/aquaf...eets/63276.pdf) work
just fine. Clicking will give the security warning confirmation dialog then
open the site.

As the link is valid I do not know why it will not open. I think that Excel
is trying to pre-fetch the link and not getting what it expects. Has anyone
encountered something like this before? Is there a way to force it to open a
link without doing the precheck?

It sounds like the issue may be related to the security settings in Excel. Here are some steps you can try to resolve the issue:

1. Check the Trust Center settings:
   - Click on the Office button (or File tab) in Excel and select "Excel Options"
   - Click on "Trust Center" in the left-hand menu
   - Click on "Trust Center Settings"
   - Select "Protected View" in the left-hand menu
   - Uncheck the box next to "Enable Protected View for files originating from the internet"
   - Click "OK" to save the changes
   
2. Disable automatic hyperlink formatting:
   - Click on the Office button (or File tab) in Excel and select "Excel Options"
   - Click on "Proofing" in the left-hand menu
   - Click on "AutoCorrect Options"
   - Select the "AutoFormat As You Type" tab
   - Uncheck the box next to "Internet and network paths with hyperlinks"
   - Click "OK" to save the changes
   
3. Try using a different browser:
   - If you are using Internet Explorer, try using a different browser such as Chrome or Firefox to see if the links work in those browsers.
   
4. Check for updates:
   - Make sure that you have the latest updates for Excel installed. You can check for updates by clicking on the Office button (or File tab) in Excel and selecting "Excel Options" and then "Resources" in the left-hand menu.

Hopefully one of these steps will help resolve the issue with the hyperlinks not working in Excel. Let me know if you have any other questions or if these steps do not work for you.

I don't know what the issue is with the Kohler site, but when I tried
the link you posted in your message it got no response in Internet
Explorer. The problem, I think, is with the site and not with the
link.


Bill Manville
MVP - Microsoft Excel, Oxford, England
No email replies please - respond to newsgroup

Such a very amazing link!
Thanks you for the post.