Maintaining Proper Hyperlinks in Word 2000 and later.

We keep a set of Word 2000 documents that are cross-hyperlinked, all in the same folder. All links are relative, using just the file name as a pointer with no path information. That way we can easily relocate this set of documents to other folders, networks, or servers without having to change the links.

When updating these documents, we first did a Save As to a temporary folder. When done updating, we copied the file back to the original folder. Without telling you, Word 2000 adjusts all the relative hyperlinks to point back to the original folder from the temporary folder when the Save As is performed. (In other words, the hyperlinks are transformed from relative to absolute, automatically.) Needless to say, the hyperlinks are then incorrect when the file is copied back to the original folder.

After much fruitless research with the Help system, the Microsoft Web site, Usenet, etc., I discovered accidentally that there is an option within Word that prevents automatically changing hyperlinks. Simply follow these steps:

1. Choose Options from the Tools menu. Word displays the Options dialog box.
2. Make sure the General tab is selected.
3. Click on the Web Options button. Word displays the Web Options dialog box.
4. Make sure the Files tab is selected.
5. Clear the Update Links on Save check box.
6. Click on OK to close the Web Options dialog box.
7. Click on OK to close the Options dialog box.