OFF98: Web Help Menu Items and Hyperlinks Do Not Work

• Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition
• Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition
• Microsoft Word 98 Macintosh Edition
• Microsoft PowerPoint 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition, the following problems may occur:

• When you click Help On The Web or Online Registration on the Help menu, nothing happens.
• When you click a hyperlink in a worksheet, you receive the following error message:

        Opening <filename>
  

        Some files can contain viruses or otherwise be harmful to your
        computer. It is important to be certain that this file is from a
        trustworthy source.
  

        Would you like to open this file?
  

  If you click OK, you receive the following error message in the Finder:

        Could not find the application program that created the document
        named "<filename>".
  

  and you are asked to choose a program to use to open the document.

• When you click a hyperlink in a worksheet, the document to which you are linking is opened in SimpleText.
• You receive the following error message when you click a hyperlink or open a Web page:

        Office cannot open the URL you specified. Make sure you have a web
        browser installed and that it is configured correctly.
  

CAUSE

These problems may occur if either of the following preference files, both located in the "System Folder:Preferences" folder, contain invalid or missing settings:

   Internet Preferences
   Mac OS Easy Open Preferences

WORKAROUND

To correct these problems, rebuild the preferences files by performing the following steps that are appropriate for your Web browser.

If You Are Running Microsoft Internet Explorer

1. Start the Internet Config program, which is located in the following

       folder:
   

          Internet:Internet Utilities:Internet Config
   

2. Click File Mappings. Click Add in the File Mappings dialog box.

3. Type "HTML Document", without quotation marks, in the Name box.

4. Type ".htm", without quotation marks, in the Extension box.

5. Type "text/html", without quotation marks, in the MIME Type box.

6. Type "TEXT", without quotation marks, in the File Type box.

7. Type "MSIE", without quotation marks, in the File Creator box.

8. Click OK to dismiss the Mapping Entry dialog box. Close the File Mappings dialog box.

9. Click Save on the File menu. Click Quit to quit Internet Config.

If You Are Running Netscape Navigator

Note also that some Internet-related settings may be lost when you perform these steps. You may need to write down your Internet-related settings before you proceed.

1. Quit all running programs.

2. Using the Finder, go to the "System Folder:Preferences" folder. Drag the following files into the trash:

   Internet Preferences Mac OS Easy Open Preferences

   On the Special menu, click Empty Trash. Click OK to empty the trash.

3. Start the Internet Config program, which is located in the following folder:

   Internet:Internet Utilities:Internet Config

   Click File Mappings. Click Defaults, and then click Revert. Close the File Mappings window, and then click Quit on the File menu. Click Save.

4. On the Apple menu, point to Control Panels, and click Configuration Manager. In the list on the left side of the dialog box, under Network, select Protocol Helpers.

   Repeat step 5 for each of the following items in the Protocol list:

   file gopher ftp http https

5. Select the item in the Protocol list. Click Change. Click Choose Helper. Using the dialog box, go to the folder that contains Netscape Navigator (usually, Internet:Internet Applications:Navigator). Select Netscape Navigator, and then click Open. Click OK.

6. In the list on the left side of the dialog box, under Receiving Files, select File Helpers.

7. In the File Helper Settings list, select the HyperText item whose Extension (shown on the right) is ".htm". Click Change. In the Handling section, select View With Browser in the "How to handle" list. Click OK.

8. On the File menu, click Quit. Click Save to save the changes to the configuration.

9. Start Microsoft Excel.

10. Click Hyperlink on the Insert menu. Click Don't Save.

11. Click Select under "Link to file or URL:". Go to the "Microsoft Office 98:Office:Help" folder, and then select Webhelp.htm. Click OK to dismiss the Link to File dialog box. Click OK to close the Insert Hyperlink dialog box.

12. Click the hyperlink. Click OK when asked if you would like to open the file.

13. Click Finder on the Application menu in the upper-right corner of your screen. Click Netscape Navigator in the list of programs, and then click Open.

    Netscape Navigator will start and open the file Webhelp.htm.

14. Click Quit on the File menu to quit Netscape Navigator.

15. Click Quit on the File menu to quit Microsoft Excel. Click Don't Save when prompted to save the changes that you made.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

The problems described above occur because the programs included in Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition may assume that you have Microsoft Internet Explorer installed on your computer, especially when preferences files are initially created. Depending on the order in which you install your programs, the problems may occur.

Netscape Navigator is manufactured by Netscape, a vendor independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding this product's performance or reliability.