Windows 10: Google Drive shared file links in WORD 365, Windows 10

Ive tried other forums, but to no avail, so here goes:

I am preparing some fairly comprehensive documentation for a charitable organisation. I have a master WORD document which as well as containing text, refers to numerous (perhaps 100) other files (policy documents and the like). It would be too cumbersome to specifically include each Policy document in the master document. Some of the files are DOC files and some PDF. (I say "master" here, NOT because I am using a WORD Master document and sub documents, the ancient troubled approach. By "master" I mean that this document points to all the others.)

Instead, what I hope to do is to provide a hyperlink to each of these documents so that a reader may click on the link and open the particular file of interest. On my local machine this is straightforward using the Insert link function in WORD. I use a utility named PathCopy as a simple way to capture the names of all files to which I need to refer on a local drive. I can easily then include the name of the file in the text of the document. I can also easily create a link for each of these files using their full path and filename provided by PathCopy, then insert this link into the master document. This is very much simpler and more accurate than typing out each file name and link.

Unfortunately, the files to which I need to link are in a shared Google Drive folder. They would also be shared with anyone else to whom the master document is sent. I can go to a shared file on Google Drive in my browser, copy the link and then paste it into the WORD document using the Insert link function. For a one-off this is fine but it is quite tedious when there are dozens of files. The other problem is that the actual file name used in the link is NOT the name of the WORD file (e.g. A file with the name DI.01 Management of Duality of Interest.docx translates to something like 0B-4c-f6VSTsKR0dQTzdZY2I2MGZHeXZMWkpqRUVhWm80a2dJ in the link. This means it is not a simple process of creating the links by grabbing a list of the (Plain English) filenames and then within WORD developing the link.

Has anyone faced this problem or can anyone tell me it is either possible or not possible please? Any advice would be most welcome - even pointing me elsewhere.

In summary, in WORD, creating links to Google Drive shared files on a one-off basis is straightforward. Doing so for dozens or 100 files is most tedious and potentially error prone. Id like to avoid both issues.

Thanks folks.

:)

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

Windows 10 Office 365 cannot open files from: recent file list

Thanks for the tip! I followed all above steps.

So far I can open files from the Recent files list when I enter Word itself, however I still am unable to open any documents using the Word icon pinned to the taskbar:





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Office 365 Word: Mail Merge - Is it Supported for editing if the Source file is Saved in a Network Shared Drive?

Hi Jazlyn,

This issue is only recently an issue.

The SOURCE file has been able to be saved on a network drive for years.

Recently this has broken. The source file in our case is a Word document.

The problem is, we don't want to edit the source file directly because it is rather difficult to navigate.

We instead prefer make edits to the source file via the UI presented under the Mail merge feature set in Word via the "Edit Recipient List".

With this menu we can make edits to values easily prefer finalising the mail merge.

I'm not sure if its a Word 2019 issue or a recent Windows Server patch (Server hosting the network drive).

(UPDATE)

I have just tested this on a completely different client site who also uses mail merge.

They are using Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10 Pro with Office 365 (Latest build).

When they also try and edit a source file that resides on a network share it also fails.

Thankfully they are able to edit the source file directly, unlike my other client who wishes to use the word UI.

This second client believes they were able to edit mail merge source files over the network share previously.

Something recently has broken this functionality.