Linked Text between source and documents not updating unless both are open on SharePoint

Question

Hi,

I am trying to create a Word document with linked objects for text to ensure the it is always updated when people have made change elesewhere. The method i have chosen for this is to copy the text, paste special and paste as link.

This method works fine and have tested it with both documents open, however when i update the link on the target document when the source is not open I get an error saying "Objects in this document contain links to files that cannot be found". Additional things to be aware of, both files are stored on a company shared sharepoint library.

Any idea of a fix?

Answer 1

You may want to look into AutoText and the AutoText field as a means of having centrally located text that is used in multiple documents. This works fine on the desktop application version of Word. I suspect it does not work in the browser version.

Automated Boilerplate Using Microsoft Word

Answer 2

You might have better luck getting help with this in a SharePoint forum.

Here is the general SharePoint help and support page: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint Documents opened in the browser version of Word do behave differently from those opened in the desktop application. The default in SharePoint seems to be to open in the browser version.

Differences between using a document in the browser and in Word

Note: As a moderator I made a change to the text of your question to remove reference to a "master document." While perfectly good English, this bumps into Word jargon. "Master document" refers to something else in that jargon.

Master Documents "Feature" in Microsoft Word

If this was mistaken, please change it back.

Answer 3

Hello Stephen,

Thank you for choosing Microsoft Office Community and thanks for providing us an opportunity to assist you.

We tried to reproduce an issue on our side following your description and I can confirm the same behavior.

Additionally, if you link the document this way or embed as object then this document turns to Read-Only and doesn’t let to edit it anymore.

I’m afraid that this method works only for Word documents that are stored on your local device, but not for files online.

We understand the inconvenience and apologize for it, to address your concern we suggest you leave feedback, so the developer team pay attention to this issue. How do I give feedback on Microsoft Office?

Best Regards,

Igor