What does "Update automatic links at open" mean in Word?

Thanks for that reply. It could indeed be the case. On my Mac the back-up is held in a folder with the same name as the file (confusing ...) and I noticed I had a back-up folder within the back-up folder; again probably dues to a Word crash. I shall be more awarer now.

Generally, Word isn't excellent at dealing with relative links, so the program may lose track if the path of the linked document has changed.

I guessed that Word cannot perform that magic. But I cannot think of a change that doesn't involve that kind of magic, which Word would be able to update.

Especially I'm wondering about my recent experience:

I had a document with several links to files within the same folder as the document, in case of which Word doesn't include the path in the link. Suddenly, all links got preceded by C:\Users\Editor\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word\

How does this happen?

What kind of change?

A change in the source document. If you change the source document, updating it will give the changes in the target/receiving document.

See also: Word Fields and Relative Paths to External Files

Hi everyone, please note that this question is still unanswered, as the existing answer provides no helpful information.

If I move the file will Word know where to look for it?

Generally, Word isn't excellent at dealing with relative links, so the program may lose track if the path of the linked document has changed. You can make an experiment and find out which changes the linkage will "survive."

As far as I know, the "Update automatic links at open" option at File > Options > Advanced applies only to linked automation objects (OLE objects) in Word. For example, if you created a link using the Paste Special dialog box to a text paragraph in another document, any changes to the source would normally be reflected immediately as you open the target document, for as long as the "Update automatic links at open" is selected.