OFF95: "Illegal Operation" When You Paste Link Long Path

ID: Q138078


The information in this article applies to:


SYMPTOMS

If you try to use the Paste Link command to link an object from a Microsoft Word document to a Microsoft Excel document, and if the link path and file name to the Word document have a total of 229 characters or more, you receive the following error message:

This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut
down. If the problem persists, contact the program vendor.
Your only option then is to click Close and quit Microsoft Excel. You lose any unsaved changes.

You may also receive this error message if the link path and file name contain 228 characters. You may receive the illegal operation error message or you may receive the following message:
Unable to Paste Link.


WORKAROUND

Shorten the name of the Microsoft Word document so that the length of the path and file name combined does not exceed 227 characters.


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.

Additional query words: file name


Keywords          : 
Version           : 7.00
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : 

Last Reviewed: June 2, 1999