"Cannot download the information you requested" upon opening a hyperlink (Word for Windows)

Hi EmanueleBertoni,

Thank you for posting back again. We’re sorry for the late reply due to the weekend.

We noticed that you have tried all suggestions we provided above, but the same problem still occur. At the same time, all Twitter links have the same problem and only Word has this problem.

If so, we have also tested it again on our side with the latest version of Word with Current Channel, and we can open those Twitter links without any problem.

Given this situation, since only Word has this problem, we’d want to give you some other suggestions and hope that will help you:

1. You can go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > Protected View > Uncheck all options and then go to File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings > File Block Settings > Uncheck all options.
2. We’d suggest you upload files to OneDrive for business, then you can open the file in Word for web to check if you can open the link successfully.

At the same time, You can also refer to this article: How to perform a clean boot in Windows to reboot your computer in clean boot to check if the same problem will occur. You can determine whether a background program is interfering with your game or program. 

Thank you for your understanding!

Best Regards,

Sukie

Hi EmanueleBertoni,

We appreciate that you posted back and confirmed the scenario with us. We also appreciate that you spent your precious time doing those tests.

We checked your description, and it seems that new files have the same problem and you can open the same link in the other non-office applications.

At the same time, currently, only links from Twitter have this problem.

If my understanding is right, we have also tested with the latest version of Current Channel, and we inserted Twitter link into footnote and we can open it without any problem.

As shown below:

Given this situation, we’d suggest you check if this issue only occurs on specific Twitter link, if all Twitter links have the same problem, we’d suggest you try the suggestions below and hope that will help you:

1. We’d suggest you enter Windows+R and type regedit, then click OK.
2. Please locate the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Common\Internet (If you cannot find 9.0, you can right-click Office and New key with name 9.0)
3. Then you can right-click Internet and new DWORD: ForceShellExecute with Value 1

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be resolved. Use Registry Edit at your own risk.

For more details, you can also refer to this article: Error message when selecting hyperlink in Office: "Cannot locate the Internet server or proxy server"

If the suggestion above doesn’t work, you can also do an Office Online repair. Repair an Office application. This will reset all Office applications.

In the meantime, to narrow down this issue, could you also provide the information below?

1. May I know if all Twitter links have the same problem? If only specific link has such problem, you can also share it with us and we can test it on our side.
2. Could you provide the screenshot of error message?
3. May I know if the other Office applications have the same problem? You can insert the same link into Excel file to check if the same problem will occur.

Thank you for your patience so far.

Best Regards,

Sukie

This is my version of Word. I've created a new document but that the problem persists. I've tried to open the same file in a non-Word program and it worked even in safe mode. Not every HTTPS link has this problem: the link I have is from Twitter, while if I put for example a link leading to Steam (which is obviously HTTPS) it works.

Hi EmanueleBertoni,

Thank you for querying in this forum.

From your description, it seems that you inserted footnote with hyperlink in Word, then you trying opening the link you found it appeared an error message.

At the same time, this issue doesn’t occur when you use HTTP URL instead of HTTPS URL.

May I know if my understanding is right? If so, we have also tested it on our side with the latest version of Word, we inserted footnote and added hyperlink with HTTPS and we can open it without any problem, as shown below:

It seems that we cannot reproduce the same situation as yours.

To better understand your situation and do more tests on our side, could you provide the information below?

1. Could you provide the product information and version of your Word? You can go to Word > File > Account and provide the full screenshot of it.
2. May I know if all documents have the same problem? You can create a new document to check if the same problem will occur.
3. Since you mentioned this issue doesn’t occur in HTTP URL, we’d suggest you insert the HTTPS hyperlink in the other non-office application, then you can open it to check if the same problem will occur.
4. May I know if all HTTPS URLs have the same problem? Could you share an HTTPS link you tested with us?

Your understanding and patience will be highly appreciated. I hope that you are keeping safe and well!

Best Regards,

Sukie