mystery hyperlink error

[LucyJupiter]

Hi Excel friends,

Happy Friday! I'm having a strange error with hyperlinks in a worksheet. The hyperlinks were created using the simple way to concatenate (="http://FirstPortionOfURL"&"a2"&"b2") then copied as plain text.

When you copy the resulting URL into a browser it works just fine. When you try to click into it from the cell an error message pops up: "The site reports that the request is not valid."

Things I have tried so far that have not worked:

• changing the cell formatting
• using the =hyperlink("ImagineConcatenatedURLTextHere") to "reset" the hyperlink
• using Insert>>hyperlink
• using different default browsers
• copying/pasting as plain text again

Does anyone have any suggestions? Any additional info I can provide? Thanks for your feedback![/LIST]

 

[PaulF]

Your format looks wrong:

=HYPERLINK("http://example.microsoft.com/report/budget report.xlsx", "Click for report")

so: =HYPERLINK("http://FirstPortionOfURL"&"a2"&"b2")

 

[LucyJupiter]

Thanks, but unfortunately that's not the issue--we're using the concatenate formula to get the URL, and then I was trying to use =hyperlink later on to troubleshoot. Apologies if I'm misunderstanding your explanation though.

 

[David Evans]

Why don't you post the actual file that's causing the issue and let's see if it causes others the same problem ...

 

[Monty]

Please upload the file

 

[LucyJupiter]

Sorry, should have included it from the start. It's posted publicly here: http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/fileasset/2014 Updates Title Lists 2.24.16.xlsx

 

[NARAYANK991]

Hi ,

What is the problem ?

A formula such as :

=HYPERLINK(Table1[@URL],Table1[@Article])

works without any error message.

Narayan

 

[LucyJupiter]

Hi Narayan,

When you open the file and click on a few of the links in the URL column, do you get the error message described above? I was able to click through one link, but then I get "The site reports that the request is not valid" error message, even though the text of the URL should be just fine. When I copy and paste the URL into a browser it works, but when I try to click through using the link in the file I get an error message, and I need the links to work in the file.

Thanks!

 

[Chihiro]

Do you have specific example that gives error? I tested about 20 of them without issue.

 

[LucyJupiter]

That's so strange--when I open the file I can't get any of them to work. I just sorted the URL column A-Z and I'm unable to get the top 5 to work. Is there a setting I should change?

 

[Chihiro]

I suspect issue resides outside of your Excel and is either in you browser setting or other security setting.

 

[David Evans]

I suspect issue resides outside of your Excel and is either in you browser setting or other security setting.

Is there anything in Excel's Security settings that could trigger this issue?

 

[Chihiro]

Only one I can think of is HLINK.dll, but the symptom described does not match it.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/925757

 

[shrivallabha]

Maybe the issue is like the one in this thread.
http://www.excelforum.com/excel-gen...orts-that-the-request-is-no-longer-valid.html

It is just that it is happening too soon for you i.e. after just one hit.

I was able to click through one link, but then I get "The site reports that the request is not valid" error message, even though the text of the URL should be just fine.

 

[LucyJupiter]

Maybe the issue is like the one in this thread.
http://www.excelforum.com/excel-gen...orts-that-the-request-is-no-longer-valid.html

It is just that it is happening too soon for you i.e. after just one hit.

Thanks for posting this--I found that reference too, but I wasn't sure how to tell if google thinks you're a bot. I also tried switching default browsers from Chrome to FireFox and IE, and I'm still getting the error message consistently.

 

[shrivallabha]

Thanks for posting this--I found that reference too, but I wasn't sure how to tell if google thinks you're a bot. I also tried switching default browsers from Chrome to FireFox and IE, and I'm still getting the error message consistently.

It is weird for sure as I tried at home and it does work fine. FWIW, I use chrome and Excel 2010.

I'd suggest you post this on MS Community forum for Excel if you have not done so. While doing so, it is advisable to post the cross-references to all posts you have made in this regard.