Word reverts back to older version of linked picture

[borkhuis]

Hello,

I am working on a Word document containing a lot of linked pictures and
other references.

The document is based on an older version, and we created the new
version by copying the old directory structure (containing the document
and all pictures) from the 6.0 directory to a new 6.1 directory. All
Word-pictures have a relative path to the pictures (directory
"sa\<picture>") and the pictures are in WMF format. So far no problem.

The pictures however are created by an external tool, and can (and
will) be changed.
When we change the pictures the new pictures appear in the Word
document on opening of the document (which is good). But when I do an
update (F9) on the picture, is goes back to the old version, which is
in the 6.0 picture directory (beeing "..\6.0\sa)
I tried a lot of things to get Word to recognise the new pictures on
update: I checked the RTF file to make sure that all the paths are OK
(the are all relative), that there are no references to the original
directory (not there).
Even when I remove the picture, then close Word, open document and
insert link to picture (from the 6.1 picture directory), close Word,
open document again, select picture and update (using F9) it changes
back to the old (6.0) version of the picture.
Also when I move the directory to a completely different drive (so that
the files cannot be accessed using relative addressing) the problem
still exists.

How can I solve this problem? This is a really annoying problem, as we
cannot do a complete update of the document, as this will remove all
new pictures and go back to the old versions.
On closing the document and opening the new pictures will appear again,
but it is really strange that we have to close the document and open it
again to make sure that all references are to the new pictures.

The version I use is Word 2002 SP 3

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi Borkhuis,

Word and relative paths don't really get on too well... Generally,
relative as interpreted by Word doesn't mean relative to where the
document is saved, but relative to what Word currently considers the
current directory. Is it possible that your installations of Word are
being forced to a "Current directory" of this old path? By a macro,
perhaps?

What you could do to prevent any misunderstanding is to use a full path.
But put the path information in a custom document property
(File/Properties/custom). Use only single backslashes. Then insert a
DocProperty field into the IncludePicture field that's maintaining the
link. It would look something like this:

{ IncludePicture "{ docProperty "PicPath" }Pic1.bmp" }

Then, when file paths change, just change the document property, then
update the fields in the template.

I am working on a Word document containing a lot of linked pictures and
other references.

The document is based on an older version, and we created the new
version by copying the old directory structure (containing the document
and all pictures) from the 6.0 directory to a new 6.1 directory. All
Word-pictures have a relative path to the pictures (directory
"sa\<picture>") and the pictures are in WMF format. So far no problem.

The pictures however are created by an external tool, and can (and
will) be changed.
When we change the pictures the new pictures appear in the Word
document on opening of the document (which is good). But when I do an
update (F9) on the picture, is goes back to the old version, which is
in the 6.0 picture directory (beeing "..\6.0\sa)
I tried a lot of things to get Word to recognise the new pictures on
update: I checked the RTF file to make sure that all the paths are OK
(the are all relative), that there are no references to the original
directory (not there).
Even when I remove the picture, then close Word, open document and
insert link to picture (from the 6.1 picture directory), close Word,
open document again, select picture and update (using F9) it changes
back to the old (6.0) version of the picture.
Also when I move the directory to a completely different drive (so that
the files cannot be accessed using relative addressing) the problem
still exists.

How can I solve this problem? This is a really annoying problem, as we
cannot do a complete update of the document, as this will remove all
new pictures and go back to the old versions.
On closing the document and opening the new pictures will appear again,
but it is really strange that we have to close the document and open it
again to make sure that all references are to the new pictures.

The version I use is Word 2002 SP 3

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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