My database stores information about video files posted on a Google Drive. One field holds the link to the file; I obtained these by copying the link directly from Google Drive and pasting them into the database field.
I now want to update my Custom Export Template to include the link as a hyperlink. The exported text gets opened in Word and converted to a table.
What function do I use in my custom export template to export the links as hyperlinks? I’ve been trying to use weblink, but so far it’s not working; I’m seeing the link itself in the exported text and in the subsequent Word file.
Or: do I need to use a different field type in the database to store the link itself?
I’m sorry, but there is no such thing as a “link” in a text file. A text file is just a series of characters. Yes, you can put the characters of a URL into the text, but that won’t make those characters into a link in Word.
There is one possibility - an HTML file is just a text file with special tags in it. Panorama can definitely export a text file with the necessary special tags. That’s part of what the weblink( funciton is for (though there is much more to creating an HTML file than just using the weblink( function). I’m sure Word cannot import an arbitrary HTML file, but it may be able to import simple HTML files. However, I am not an expert in Word (I don’t even have a copy of it) so I don’t really know what Word will or will not do with an HTML file, and I don’t know if what you want to do is at all possible.
You mention how it opens in Word but didn’t say if that’s your actual objective.
What are you actually trying to accomplish as your end goal? Where is it that you want to have the link available?
Various software programs will respond differently. Some will show it as a working link if it starts with https://, such as with most email apps. Others may need a full link format: <a href = "https://forum.provue.com/t/export-field-value-as-a-hyperlink/7011)">This Thread</a>
I’ve found a clue that gets me closer but I’m not yet where I want to be. What I want in my final Word document is “[Link to file]” with the address embedded as a hyperlink.
I copied a row from the table in my Word document (where I’d already manually added a hyperlink) so I could paste it here. This is what I see after pasting:
[Link to file](https://drive.google.com/file/d/12-yUOFNuG7JSUdpOdqDoLbKYsk0Do02a/view?usp=drive_link)
In contrast, as Jim Rhea explained, using the weblink function to export the url produced the address in the <a href="https: format.
After editing the item in the custom template, the export shows this:
[Link to file](https://drive.google.com/file/d/12-yUOFNuG7JSUdpOdqDoLbKYsk0Do02a/view?usp=drive_link)
But when I open the exported text with Word, I am seeing all the text, just as exported. Not surprisingly, it’s not a hyperlink. But it becomes an active link in Word as soon as you type a return after it.
Can anyone tell me if Word offers a way to automatically convert an address as a hyperlink? (I realize I’m on the wrong forum for that question.) I have no problem with using Word operations for additional editing but of course I don’t want to manually create each hyperlink. I also do not want the url to display; I’m not able to adjust the table’s column widths with those long addresses visible.
(I had to delete previous answers because I included https:// formatted addresses and they converted to actual links when posted. Duh!)
What I want is to include a hyperlink to each video in the Word file that describes my videos in a table format. I have accomplished that as test by manually adding some hyperlinks in Word. Now I want to automate it by exporting the url as part of the custom export.
Apparently my real question is how to get Word to convert the address to a hyperlink. What I am now exporting (no weblink function involved) does become a link in the final Word file after typing a return after it. But I don’t want the urls to be visible; their length restricts the column format I’m trying to use.
I don’t know Word, but since Word can apparently handle links, it’s a matter of finding out what format it can accept.
In your shoes I’d experiment with the format. For example trying entries in Panorama of <a href = "https://forum.provue.com/t/export-field-value-as-a-hyperlink/7011)">This Thread</a>
and https://forum.provue.com/t/export-field-value-as-a-hyperlink/7011
and forum.provue.com/t/export-field-value-as-a-hyperlink/7011
Then see if one or the other is properly converted.
BTW, to post the link code as I have here and avoid it becoming an actual link, I’m using the preformatted text control on the toolbar: </>
This can be corrected by placing a back tick ` (lower case to the tilda) before and after the link. That will cause it to appear as is and not converted to an actual link.
I took the liberty of making the correction for you in the post above.
I’m not a Word expert either, but suspect JamesCook has pointed you in the direction you wish. But as an aside I’ll point out one of those extra Apple features PanX lets us have as a side benefit of Jim’s quest for maximum Apple compatibility: Data Detectors.
They recognize strings within ordinary text which might also represent data and let you work with them as such: phone numbers, addresses, URLs, etc. The text isn’t specially formatted, just identified for its special content. They predate OSX. Not all apps support it and not everyone likes it, but it sometimes is useful IMHO. If exported to other apps, how and even if they recognize this depends on whether and how they implement this Apple feature. Mail, TextEdit and PanX support it; I’m not sure about Word.
In some cases it can be turned on and off. Right clicking white space when entering text offers this popup.
Check or uncheck Smart Links and/or Data Detectors to enable/disable their options. I don’t think Help covers this, and wouldn’t expect that, but it’s probably all done by Apple’s code. Google for details if interested further.
I’ve been experimenting with various AI’s - like ChatGPT and Claude. This is what Claude “says”:
MS Word typically does this automatically - it has a feature called “AutoFormat” that converts text that looks like a URL into a clickable hyperlink as you type.
This usually happens when you press Space or Enter after typing the URL
The text will turn blue and underlined to indicate it’s now a clickable link
If it’s not working automatically:
Go to File > Options > Proofing
Click AutoCorrect Options
Select the AutoFormat As You Type tab
Make sure Internet and network paths with hyperlinks is checked
Manual conversion: If you have existing text that should be a link:
Select the text
Press Ctrl+K (or go to Insert > Link)
Word should automatically detect it’s a URL and populate the address field
Click OK
To remove automatic hyperlinking:
Right-click on a hyperlink and select “Remove Hyperlink”
Or uncheck the AutoFormat option mentioned above to prevent future automatic conversion
The feature should work with most common URL formats (http://, https://, www., ftp://, etc.). If you’re having issues with specific URLs, make sure they’re properly formatted and don’t have any unusual characters that might confuse Word’s recognition system.
I asked about importing text with a URL and got this:
No, MS Word’s automatic hyperlink conversion typically doesn’t work when you import or paste text from external files. The AutoFormat feature primarily works when you’re actively typing in Word.
When you import a text file containing URLs:
The URLs will appear as plain text
They won’t automatically become clickable hyperlinks
You’ll need to convert them manually
The imported text is treated as “static” content, so Word’s “as you type” features don’t apply. You’ll generally need to manually convert URLs when importing from external text files.
That looks like Markdown format. Maybe Word supports Markdown?
Hmm, I did a Google search for word markdown import and the AI response seems to indicate that Word can import HTML format. I have no idea if this is correct or an AI hallucination.
I just ran into this problem when I wrote a long, email for a mailing list with TextEdit, put a link under a title, and copied everything and pasted it into Mail, sent it out, and then found that the hyperlink did not work. Your question has got me to do some experimenting. What I found was that I have a little app that changes formatted text to plain text, and I forgot that I left it so it did it by default.
This is the format of the link:
[Oakland Municipal Band July 4.](https://oaklandmunicipalband.org/wp-content/uploads/OMB07042025.2.pdf)
Wow! I hope that shows up. This board turned it into the link, which is public, so you do not need to worry that I am letting out any secrets, and if you are around on Friday, come out and enjoy the concert.
Anyway, I think the way to do this is to get the text with the link you want into a text object that does rtf, and maybe you can export the formatted text. I do not have Word, but I just tried copying and pasting into Pages from the rtf, and it kept the hyperlink.
So many good ideas! I appreciate the suggestions. I think what BruceDeB wrote is similar to what I tried exporting at one point. However, I was concatenating parts of it in the formula within the custom export template, rather than stored within a field. He says to use a text object with rtf, and I can easily try that. I’ll report back!
I’d love to keep working on this, but I have to put it aside for now to focus elsewhere. I’ll be back at a later date. One question before I go: why am I not seeing the formula I’m trying to write when I add a Text Display Object to my form? When I work in Graphics Mode with the object selected, the toolbar becomes partly hidden:
I also cannot see anything I attempt to type into the Formula area.
