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how can I do this in excel?

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kalos:
the business requirement is this:

in a web folder, there is an excel file and some other files

the excel file contains an index of the hyperlinks of the other files

when that web folder is being moved in another location of the same web server, the links get broken

if the excel file is set to search within its own folder for the files that their hyperlinks are stored in this excel file, then they won't get broken

I don't think it can be done at least without some scripting (what that would be really?), but I am not sure

kalos:
when an xls opens, it knows its filepath
but when a downloaded xls opens, can it know its download url?
I am not sure, if there is a stamp like 'Downloaded from /path/'
so that it can then search for its hyperlinks inside that path/folder

but even if that exists, we would need to download a fresh copy each time, in order to get the links updated
which is inconvenient

that's why the only possible solution I see, is a script that will search for the specific filenames (maybe a file id like a hashtag?) in the whole web server
but doesn't that need special access to this server, like ftp access, command line access or something?
please advise

unless I miss something?

kilele:
Sync a local copy with dropbox, from your pc run a script to list all the files and output to a .csv file which can be opened with excel.
Snap2html from rlvision dot com may serve your purpose too, it's a desktop program and can list files according to the dropbox location you provide instead of the local ones.

TaoPhoenix:
There's some "medium tech" solutions here, but I am thinking of one of my low level hacks.
: )

Last I understood, the excel file is like an "index" to stuff in the folder.

So not counting things like minor diffs between excel I don't currently have and Libre Office, I do think you can do this, "look locally in a folder" by doing a type of "double processor" where one cell grabs the full "hardlink" downloaded or not, then does something like Right$ reading right to left and dumping the rest because the final file name isn't changing but only the initial path.

Maybe I can whack something together as a demo.

I used to do a lot of this kind of thing, so your manager isn't wholly wrong, the question is whether we can "connect all the pieces".

TaoPhoenix:
Something like this:

Random files:

a.txt
b.txt
c.txt

The html "excel generated" indexer
folder 1
http://www.freevoteusa.com/Zexcel1/Excel%20Produced%20Index.html

Then someone moves the files
So you move the index to the new folder too.
http://www.freevoteusa.com/Zexcel2/Excel%20Produced%20Index.html

It's the same index file

It's created by a "universal index creator" excel sheet. You do a drive read to get file names, drop them into the excel file, then copy and paste into a text html document. It doesn't matter then if the files travel into new folders because the index is "local" like I think you want it.

Is that close?

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