Microsoft Word & Root Directories
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Microsoft Word & Root Directories
I'm working on a document with Microsoft Word, and I want to insert pictures.
I know how to insert the pictures into the document, but the problem is that you can't enlarge the photos, zoom in, etc, like you can in a program such as a photo-viewing program. The size you pick when you insert it is the size it stays.
It was suggested to me that in addition to inserting the picture, to insert a Hyperlink to the original photo, so that -- if desired -- one can click the link, which would open up the picture in the standard Windows photo viewer as well. I agreed that was a good idea, and put the document and all related photos in the same folder.
My problem is that when I put the folder on to a flash drive, the directory where the photos are located is no longer relevant, so the pictures don't show up.
I know there's some way to pick the "Root Directory" in the hyperlink. Therefore, instead of a static location such as "C:\Photos\Project Folder\FirstPhoto.jpg", I can simply enter "\FirstPhoto.jpg" and it will automatically look in the same folder as the Word document, but I can't seem to figure it out.
If someone could help me out, that would be great, and if someone has a better idea, that would be great too! Thanks!
I know how to insert the pictures into the document, but the problem is that you can't enlarge the photos, zoom in, etc, like you can in a program such as a photo-viewing program. The size you pick when you insert it is the size it stays.
It was suggested to me that in addition to inserting the picture, to insert a Hyperlink to the original photo, so that -- if desired -- one can click the link, which would open up the picture in the standard Windows photo viewer as well. I agreed that was a good idea, and put the document and all related photos in the same folder.
My problem is that when I put the folder on to a flash drive, the directory where the photos are located is no longer relevant, so the pictures don't show up.
I know there's some way to pick the "Root Directory" in the hyperlink. Therefore, instead of a static location such as "C:\Photos\Project Folder\FirstPhoto.jpg", I can simply enter "\FirstPhoto.jpg" and it will automatically look in the same folder as the Word document, but I can't seem to figure it out.
If someone could help me out, that would be great, and if someone has a better idea, that would be great too! Thanks!
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I can't figure this out - is moving to a flash drive breaking your link or causing the image not to show up in the doc?
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Well, maybe I explained it wrong.
If the hyperlink directory is "C:\Photos\Project Folder\FirstPhoto.jpg", then that means that it is looking on MY hard drive for the photos.
What I want is to be able to place the whole folder -- document and photos -- onto a flash drive, and view it on another computer. When I do that, I want it to look on the flash drive for the photos, and not my hard drive, because it's not the same computer.
Because computers will vary, so will the Drive Identifier of the Flash Drive. Therefore, I just want it to get the photo from the same root directory as the document.
If the hyperlink directory is "C:\Photos\Project Folder\FirstPhoto.jpg", then that means that it is looking on MY hard drive for the photos.
What I want is to be able to place the whole folder -- document and photos -- onto a flash drive, and view it on another computer. When I do that, I want it to look on the flash drive for the photos, and not my hard drive, because it's not the same computer.
Because computers will vary, so will the Drive Identifier of the Flash Drive. Therefore, I just want it to get the photo from the same root directory as the document.
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Insert the pic in the Word Doc & change the size before you save the Doc. To do that, right click on the pic & left click on Format Picture.
Other than that, the picture can be copied & pasted in any other program. If I find a way to use hyperlink, I'll post it.
Other than that, the picture can be copied & pasted in any other program. If I find a way to use hyperlink, I'll post it.
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I believe if you right click the hyperlink you will see an “EDIT” choice. You can change the “Address:” from "C:\Photos\Project Folder\FirstPhoto.jpg" to FirstPhoto.jpg. So if your pictures are in the same folder as the Word doc I think that will work.
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The pic isn't going to be in any folder because, in his scenario, he put it in a Word Doc & put the Word Doc, on a USB drive. The drive was connected it to another computer. Once the USB drive is connected to another computer, the pic is only in the Word Doc. It can be edited in the Word Doc by right clicking on it & left clicking on format picture. There are 3 other options to extract the pic from the Doc file.
Top 3 ways to extract images from .docx/.doc Word documents | Clement Nedelcu's Development Journal
I'll add a 4th option which is copy & paste the picture into mspaint or any other photo editor. The only way that hyperlink will work is if the pic was also uploaded to photobucket.com or something similar. I'm going to try one more thing with hyperlink that includes file:///hd0 or something like that.
Top 3 ways to extract images from .docx/.doc Word documents | Clement Nedelcu's Development Journal
I'll add a 4th option which is copy & paste the picture into mspaint or any other photo editor. The only way that hyperlink will work is if the pic was also uploaded to photobucket.com or something similar. I'm going to try one more thing with hyperlink that includes file:///hd0 or something like that.
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I guess I am having a problem understanding this. Isn’t CriticalMass saying that the pictures will in fact be in the same folder as the Word document?
Yes it’s true that the pictures are embedded in the document but … in addition the goal is to add a hyperlink near the picture in the Word doc, so if the user wishes he can click the hyperlink which
But when the new folder, containing the Word doc plus the pictures are copied (or moved) to a flash drive which is then connected to another computer, the hyperlinks do not work because they had been erroneously created with a full path name, e.g. "C:\Photos\Project Folder\FirstPhoto.jpg" which are meaningless on the new computer.
But if the above hyperlink had been created to read FirstPhoto.jpg , then because the photos are in fact in the same folder with the Word doc, wherever that folder may be, the link works.
I don’t think CriticalMass is trying to create a dynamic link back to his computer or anything so complicated – the pictures are travelling with the Word doc in the same exact folder. If the pictures had already been in the same folder at the time the hyperlinks were created I don’t think there would have been a problem at all.
Or do I need to get back to the coffee pot to stimulate the old brain cells? LOL
I agreed that was a good idea, and put the document and all related photos in the same folder.
would open up the picture in the standard Windows photo viewer as well
But if the above hyperlink had been created to read FirstPhoto.jpg , then because the photos are in fact in the same folder with the Word doc, wherever that folder may be, the link works.
I don’t think CriticalMass is trying to create a dynamic link back to his computer or anything so complicated – the pictures are travelling with the Word doc in the same exact folder. If the pictures had already been in the same folder at the time the hyperlinks were created I don’t think there would have been a problem at all.
Or do I need to get back to the coffee pot to stimulate the old brain cells? LOL
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Zoesdad, The coffee pot is optional. Let's just talk about directory hierarchies, files in those directories & pics embedded in MS Word.
On Critical Mass's computer, he has a jpg called Firstphoto.jpg in C:\Photos\Project Folder\FirstPhoto.jpg
In case no one has noticed, that pic is not in the root directory. It is in the second sub-directory. The root directory is C:\
Then he embedded the the pic into a Word Doc which is nameless so far, in the same sub-directory. The entire sub-directory also called a folder was then copied to a USB drive & connected to a different PC. Here's the catch. The root directory on the USB drive is NOT C:\ & will never be C:\. It will be whatever drive letter that the second computer gave it. Therefore, a hyperlink can only work if it points to photobucket.com or another web site.
Finally, a hyperlink was really not needed since the pic can be re-sized in MS Word. It can also be copied & pasted to any photo program. I hope all of that is clear.
On Critical Mass's computer, he has a jpg called Firstphoto.jpg in C:\Photos\Project Folder\FirstPhoto.jpg
In case no one has noticed, that pic is not in the root directory. It is in the second sub-directory. The root directory is C:\
Then he embedded the the pic into a Word Doc which is nameless so far, in the same sub-directory. The entire sub-directory also called a folder was then copied to a USB drive & connected to a different PC. Here's the catch. The root directory on the USB drive is NOT C:\ & will never be C:\. It will be whatever drive letter that the second computer gave it. Therefore, a hyperlink can only work if it points to photobucket.com or another web site.
Finally, a hyperlink was really not needed since the pic can be re-sized in MS Word. It can also be copied & pasted to any photo program. I hope all of that is clear.
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Here's the catch. The root directory on the USB drive is NOT C:\ & will never be C:\. It will be whatever drive letter that the second computer gave it. Therefore, a hyperlink can only work if it points to photobucket.com or another web site.
1. Create a folder: C:\Users\joe\MyGoodStuff
2. Copy a picture into the folder from anywhere, e.g., copy MyFace.jpg to C:\Users\joe\MyGoodStuff
3. Create a Word Document: MyTestDoc and save it in C:\Users\joe\MyGoodStuff
4. In Word in MyTestDoc do an Insert Hyperlink and insert MyFace.jpg from the current folder (i.e., from C:\Users\joe\MyGoodStuff ) into MyTestDoc.
5. Now you can copy or move the folder MyGoodStuff to a flash drive and when you insert that flash drive into a second computer and you open MyTestDoc on that computer, and you then click the hyperlink MyFace.jpg - the Application associated with .jpg on that computer will launch with the file MyFace.jpg – which was ported in the same folder. It doesn’t matter what the drive letters are on the first or second computer!
That’s what Critical Mass wanted.
I think the mistake you are making is not recognizing the generalized nature of a Hyperlink – you don’t need drive letters in a Hyperlink and they would also be inappropriate in this case.
Critical Mass wants to give the user an opportunity to launch a real picture handling Application and pass it the associated picture source that was the source for the picture embedded in the Word doc that the user is viewing. It has nothing to do with how the picture is embedded in the Word doc. That is in addition to this task.
Whether you would use something else in lieu of Hyperlink is another story – Hyperlink will work for what Critical Mass wants. Try the above test and you will see.
p.s. Critical Mass when using “root” is not talking about the root directory on the drive.
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If Critical Mass wasn't taking about root directories, why does the title of his post say root directories?
Did you make that exact test with the USB drive? Did the file open from that drive & not the C:\ drive. Are you saying that's the answer to his original post?
I don't see how the hyperlink can work without pointing to a particular drive. Is a variable used?
Did you make that exact test with the USB drive? Did the file open from that drive & not the C:\ drive. Are you saying that's the answer to his original post?
I don't see how the hyperlink can work without pointing to a particular drive. Is a variable used?
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My problem is that when I put the folder on to a flash drive, the directory where the photos are located is no longer relevant, so the pictures don't show up.
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When I insert the USB drive, the drive letter assigned to the drive happens to be “E” in my particular configuration. When I open MyTestDoc which is contained in the MyGoodStuff folder on “E”, and click the hyperlink to MyFace.jpg , Windows Photo Viewer opens up with MyFace.jpg.
But if I delete MyFace.jpg in the MyGoodStuff folder on “E”, or change the name of MyFace.jpg in the MyGoodStuff folder on “E”, then when I click the hyperlink to MyFace.jpg I get a note “cannot open the specified file”. That’s because the hyperlink in MyTestDoc points to the same folder in which MyTestDoc resides – wherever that folder is. The C: drive is ignored.
Hyperlinks are just following the same rules that Path Names follow, a drive letter is not necessary. This link is what Microsoft has to say about this topic. I think all that happened was that Critical Mass wanted what Microsoft calls a “Relative hyperlink” as outlined in the article, but instead wound up with what Microsoft calls an “Absolute hyperlink” in the article.
How to create absolute hyperlinks and relative hyperlinks in Word documents
That happened because the hyperlinks were entered into the Word doc BEFORE the linked files were moved into the same folder as the Word doc. If the files were moved into the same folder as the Word doc , and THEN the hyperlinks to those files were entered into the Word doc, the hyperlinks would have been Relative hyperlinks enabling the folder to be copied/moved anywhere without a link problem.
What I mean is that when Critical Mass uses “root” I believe it maps to what Microsoft calls the “Hyperlink base” in that article – not the root directory for the drive.
But if I delete MyFace.jpg in the MyGoodStuff folder on “E”, or change the name of MyFace.jpg in the MyGoodStuff folder on “E”, then when I click the hyperlink to MyFace.jpg I get a note “cannot open the specified file”. That’s because the hyperlink in MyTestDoc points to the same folder in which MyTestDoc resides – wherever that folder is. The C: drive is ignored.
Hyperlinks are just following the same rules that Path Names follow, a drive letter is not necessary. This link is what Microsoft has to say about this topic. I think all that happened was that Critical Mass wanted what Microsoft calls a “Relative hyperlink” as outlined in the article, but instead wound up with what Microsoft calls an “Absolute hyperlink” in the article.
How to create absolute hyperlinks and relative hyperlinks in Word documents
That happened because the hyperlinks were entered into the Word doc BEFORE the linked files were moved into the same folder as the Word doc. If the files were moved into the same folder as the Word doc , and THEN the hyperlinks to those files were entered into the Word doc, the hyperlinks would have been Relative hyperlinks enabling the folder to be copied/moved anywhere without a link problem.
What I mean is that when Critical Mass uses “root” I believe it maps to what Microsoft calls the “Hyperlink base” in that article – not the root directory for the drive.
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I didn't take the time to make the same test. I'm sure it worked as you described. Originally, I was trying to extract the embedded pic to another photo editor using hyperlink. It didn't work so that's why I searched for & posted the link that shows 3 ways to extract it. Although I use MS Word to size some jpg files, I would never have used it in the scenario that Critical Mass described in his original post. After all was said & done, the question of how to create a variable drive came to mind. $user$ is a variable for whatever user is there. Can $drive$ be used the same way?
PS MS scaling is terrible when sizing a pic. An inch in real life is not an inch on planet MS but that's for another thread.
PS MS scaling is terrible when sizing a pic. An inch in real life is not an inch on planet MS but that's for another thread.
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Create folder names on the flash drive to match the folder names on your computer. Copy the file to the same folder location on the flash drive as it was located on your computer.