When using a PowerPoint file located on dropbox, hyperlink sometimes will error 'Cannot open file'

[TWM Maz]

We have a number of PowerPoint files that our users use on Dropbox that have a number of hyperlinks in them that link to PDF files that reside in the same file as the PPT file is.

Most of the time, this works fine.. The user clicks the button that has the hyperlink and the PDF is rendered no problem. But sometimes, especially after editing the PPT (not the hyperlink stuff, but other content in the PPT file), the links no longer work and we get the error message that say 'Cannot open the specified file'.

Our users use dropbox so that it 'replicates' their folders to their hard drives and they launch the PPT files by clicking them via Windows Explorer.. So the 'current folder' should be the folder that their PPT file is in (I think). But what's odd is when I go to examine the hyperlink when the PPT file on the replicated dropbox folder, it looks odd (as if the current folder is not defined correctly) and sometimes those links will work and sometimes they won't. See Image #1 below.

But if I copy that folder to place on my hard drive NOT on dropbox and launch it from that folder, looking at the same hyperlink, it looks fine and the 'current folder' is set properly. See Image #2 below.

So my suspicion is MS-Office and Dropbox just aren't playing nicely together when opening the file from the dropbox.

Note: this query is also on this forum: https://superuser.com/questions/1800821/when-using-a-powerpoint-file-located-on-dropbox-the-hyperlin...

[Jay]

Hi @TWM Maz, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

While this thread is related to Excel files, the same principle should apply for PowerPoint files, in terms of the relative and absolute path to a file.

II'd recommend trying the info there to see if they help.

If you have any further queries, feel free to message back.

[TWM Maz]

Jay - 
thanks for the response.. That info makes sense from that other thread about MS-Office's 'Hyperlink Base'  needing to be explicitly set by the user.. 

The challenge I have with that solution is:

1. my user base is not wanting to do more techie stuff like 'manually setting the hyperlink base' in order for the hyperlinks to work.

2. why does it work sometimes (in fact most of the time) but not always?   For example, when the files are first copied to to dropbox (the PPT file and the collection of PDF files that are 'hyperlinked') to the PPT file, it works fine..   It's only sometimes if other stuff is edited in the PPT (unrelated to the hyperlinks) does it get messed up (not all the time). 
I don't know the pattern of when it will mess up and when it will not mess up.. And I only hear about it when it does mess up :(. 

Our backup plan is to go with a non-dropbox solution, but would really like to use dropbox if we can given that is easier to to have folks collaborate/share files.

[Jay]

It does sound like it needs to have a relative link to prevent issues across different users. 

As to why it works occasionally, I can't say, perhaps the way the file is being edited, or a specific user is editing the file.