Microsoft KB Archive/107201

OLE, Publish, and Subscribe Links Lost When Converted to RTF

PSS ID Number: Q107201 Article last modified on 03-07-1997

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= SYMPTOMS =

One or more links disappear from a document that has been saved and reopened in the Interchange (RTF) format. The linked information remains (server and client text), but the connecting links are lost. In the case of embedded objects (such as objects from Microsoft Excel, MS Graph, and the Equation Editor) the object remains, but Word treats it as a picture.

= CAUSE =

ALL three of the following circumstances must be met for the problem to occur:

  The document must have been saved in Interchange (RTF) format.   The document must contain a .c. table of contents and/or .i. index entry that ends with a hidden semicolon. Take for example, the following table of contents entry, .c.Chapter One; Yearly Report with the .c. and the semicolon formatted as hidden.   Something in a table of contents or index entry must be a client or server in an OLE link or Publish/Subscribe link. For example, in part 2 above, the word One might be an OLE server. 

All servers and clients following or within the table of contents or index entry lose their connecting information. To retain their links, servers AND their clients must exist before a table of contents or index entry.

Once the file is saved in RTF, there is no way to globally repair the links. Each link must be reconnected individually.

= WORKAROUND =

If a document must be saved in the RTF format, then before saving, use these steps to preserve the links:


 * 1) From the Edit menu, select Replace.
 * 2) In Find What, enter “.i” or “.c” (without the quotation marks), depending on whether it is an index or table of contents entry.
 * 3) From the Find What Format menu, select Character. Select the Hidden option and choose OK. The word Hidden should appear to the right of the Find What Format menu.
 * 4) In Replace With, enter a special character that is not used elsewhere in the document.
 * 5) Make sure Search is set to All and then choose Replace All.
 * 6) Save the document in Interchange (RTF) format.
 * 7) When you reopen the document, use the Replace command to replace the special character inserted in step 4 with the “.c” or “.i” (without the quotation marks) entries in the document.

= STATUS =

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Word for the Macintosh versions 5.0, and 5.1. This problem was corrected in Word for the Macintosh version 6.0.

= REFERENCES =

For additional information about links in Word 5.x, see the “Microsoft Word User’s Guide,” Chapter 37.

For additional information about alternate converters in Word 5.x, see the “Microsoft Word User’s Guide,” 660-664.

KBCategory: kbole KBSubCategory: Additional reference words: 5.00 5.10 gone miss missing remove broken macword5 rich text edition winword ====================================================================== ============================================================================= Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1997.