How do I create an INTRAnet hyperlink in an email.

[Ty Freeborn]

The first link below works fine to send an intranet link
with spaces to someone in an email. However, the others
don't work.

<file://C:\My Documents\Johns Estimate.xls>
On a local drive and it works!

<file://W:\My Documents\Johns Estimate.xls>
On a mapped network drive - doesn't work.

<file://\\Server1\Business Plan\Johns Estimate.xls>
A UNC name - doesn't work. (various combinations
of the slashes after "file:" don't seem to help.)

Outlook's help topic "Types of hyperlinks" discusses the
various types of hyperlinks including files on the
intranet. Particularly interesting is the note below.

"If the Internet address includes spaces, or Chinese,
Japanese, or Korean characters, you must enclose the
entire address in angle brackets (< >). For example,
<file://C:\My Documents\MyFile.doc>."

This works great for files on drive C. However, when I
changed the drive letter from C to W (a non-persistant
network drive), I get an error message stating it can't be
located.

Thanks for the help in advance.

Ty

[Patrick Reed [MVP - Outlook]]

I don't believe you can use drive mappings such as those.

Either of the following should work, however, provided the recipient has
access to that specific server, volume, folder, and file:

<file://Server1/Business Plan/Johns Estimate.xls>
<\\server1\business plan\johns estimate.xls>

--
PATRICK REED [Outlook - MVP]~~~~~~
-Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP)
-Have you checked http://www.slipstick.com?
-Please post your Outlook version!

"Ty Freeborn" <tfre...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:06f701c30f7d$a74ee500$3401...@phx.gbl...

[Ty Freeborn]

Patrick,

Neither of the suggested formats you've given work.

I've triple-checked the syntax and path spelling and even simplified the
path to just insure that a link to a filename with spaces is possible over a
mapped network drive and still can't get it. (Of course, I've ensured that
the user has access. I'm the 'admin' and even I can't get such a hyperlink
to work!)

Help! I just can't stand everybody sending actual files back and forth to
each other via email - not to mention the numerous different versions that
then exist in various inboxes around the office. (Ahh, alright guys - who
has the latest copy?) What the heck do we need a file server for if
everybody just emails docs back and forth to each other? We should only be
emailing a link to a common server copy that we share.

P.S. I'm not running Exchange Server, rather just PST files for each user -
and a Win2K domain controller which doubles as the file-server of course.

Ty

"Patrick Reed [MVP - Outlook]" <patric...@mchsi.com> wrote in message
news:u$tqWU$DDHA...@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...

[Patrick Reed [MVP - Outlook]]

Do these links work outside of Outlook? In other words, if you select Start
| Run and enter

\\server1\business plan\johns estimate.xls

or any of the others, do they work?

--
PATRICK REED [Outlook - MVP]~~~~~~
-Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP)
-Have you checked http://www.slipstick.com?
-Please post your Outlook version!

"Ty Freeborn" <tfre...@hotmail.com> wrote in message

news:O7wXqaBE...@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...

[Ty Freeborn]

Patrick,

Of course. The path is good. The doc exists. The permissions allow FULL
access - not only on the containing folder, but on parent folders as well.
The document is not encrypted, compressed, or otherwise marked with a
read-only, hidden, or any other attribute. The share permissions on
'Server1' allow full access to "everyone".

I CAN easily access the file with either the UNC path OR drive letter path
via a run command or browser window. It's only when I place this link in
Outlook and preface it with 'file:' protocol identifier that it fails. You
should be easily able to duplicate this issue.

I'm wondering, could it have something to do with the fact that the drive
mapping is non-persistent? That seems difficult to believe but I don't know
what else to consider.

Thanks for your attention and help.
Ty

"Patrick Reed [MVP - Outlook]" <patric...@mchsi.com> wrote in message

news:%236Aj8rB...@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

[Patrick Reed [MVP - Outlook]]

No, I can't reproduce this issue with Outlook. All my links work fine.

The drive mapping state shouldn't matter because we're trying the UNC path,
not the relative path with the drive letter anymore.

You also tried just using the UNC path without the file:// tag as well, but
it didn't work in Outlook, correct?

What is the exact error message you recieve?

Check Windows Explorer, in Tools | Folder Options | File Types. Somewhere in
the list, there should be multiple entries for extensions listed as N/A.
Most of these will be the various URL protocol handlers. Is there an icon
associated with these (should look like and Internet Explorer/Web Page
icon)?

Also, as a workaround for the moment, when a user browses to a network file
to attach to a message, they do have the option on the Insert button to
insert as a hyperlink. If you change your mail format to Rich Text (Tools
|Options | Mail Format), and try this, does the hyperlink Outlook creates
work?

--
PATRICK REED [Outlook - MVP]~~~~~~
-Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP)
-Have you checked http://www.slipstick.com?
-Please post your Outlook version!

"Ty Freeborn" <tfre...@hotmail.com> wrote in message

news:u$WJVsYED...@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...

[Ty Freeborn]

Patrick,

You said, "You also tried just using the UNC path without the file:// tag as

well, but it didn't work in Outlook, correct?"

Thank you, that did it! Simple 'eh? Although I'd tried every combination
of slashes, I hadn't tried eliminating the 'file:' tag completely because
Outlook's help files had indicated that I needed it and it worked properly
on a local file. Anyhow, what works is...

<\\Server1\Business Plan\Johns Estimate.xls>

To summarize, if the path has spaces, then just a plain 'ol UNC with angle
brackets at each end (instead of double quotes as one would use elsewhere)
is what works. This should save some storage space on the file server and
eliminate confusion and redundancy. I'm a happy guy. :) Thanks a million!
Now I can get back to what matters - my business.

P.S. Still don't understand why a mapped drive letter won't work, but no
matter; a UNC works well - it's just not as simple for basic users. Also,
there's one caveat when typing a UNC in Outlook, one has to type it without
spaces and then - after closing the link with an angle bracket (>) return to
the link and insert the spaces. Otherwise, the link "breaks" when inserting
a space while typing the UNC.

Ty

"Patrick Reed [MVP - Outlook]" <patric...@mchsi.com> wrote in message

news:u7SyMOxE...@TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...