Update a number of links automatically

[Tiffany]

I have a word file that have links in them with financials from an excel
file. There are about 20 links. Each month when a new report is written, I
need to change the source for each individual link, but as they are to the
same file, I want to change all links at the same time. How can I do this??

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

Depending on how the links are inserted, you might be able to do it by
selecting everything (Ctrl+A) and pressing F9 (update links).

 

[Tiffany]

The links are to a monthly financials report. So when the word doc (the
report) is done, the new financials need to be done for the new month, eg in
July it is linked to the July financials spreadsheets (names all the same),
then in August the file needs to be linked to the August file, etc each
month. I can easily go into Edit/Links/ and then Change Source for each
individual link, but as there are about 20 links, I have to do it 20 times.
If I select the first link, and change it to the new file, I want all the
links to be linked to this same file. Surely there has to be a way??

 

[Herb Tyson [MVP]]

I'm still not sure I completely understand. But... see if this works. Press
Alt+F9 to toggle field code display on, do a Find/Replace (Ctrl+H) to change
the file name to the new month's name for all 20 links in one fell swoop,
then press Alt+F9 to toggle field results back on, then press Ctrl+A / F9.

This works if everything is done using ordinary field codes that explicitly
use file names. There are some kinds of OLE for which you do not actually
see the file names, though, in which case this won't work. But, if you're
able to do it using Edit/Links, then this approach should work.

--
Herb Tyson MS MVP
Author of the Word 2007 Bible
Blog: http://word2007bible.herbtyson.com
Web: http://www.herbtyson.com