HTML hyperlinks to "anchor" to different locations within an Excel file?

Question

Hi there, this is a thread I would really like answered that I had in the old forums. Here is the conversation so far (original + 2 responses):

Hello,
I don't know a lot about HTML, but I was hoping someone could either tell me if this is possible or not. I have various environmental monitoring data stored in an Excel file for various locations which I am showing in ArcE. I know that I can use HTML to create a hyperlink to that file, but I would really like to be able to hyperlink to specific places in the file, or even different sheets would be OK.
I know you can create anchors to places in the same HTML document, but is this possible with other file types? Or does anyone have a suggestion for achieving a similar effect without creating various different Excel files?

Thanks!
Gabe

Gabe,

Just tried this in Excel 2007. I open a new spreadsheet and saved as Book1.xlsx to my desktop. Then opened a new Word document and added a hyperlink with this address: C:\Users\mbranscomb\Desktop\Book1.xlsx#Sheet1!B2. Clicking the hyperlink opens Excel with the correct cell selected. Obviously you'll need to change the location of the file and then just append #! as above. Took a little searching on the web and a bit of trial and error to get the link right.

Good luck!

Regards

Mike 
   Mike Branscomb
ESRI - ArcGIS Explorer Team

Thanks for posting that, however it does not work for me. I did a little more snooping around and found that from a webpage the sheet/cell reference will only work with Internet Explorer. Firefox is my default web browser. When I click on the link (C:\SGSdbms\FH7A.xlsx#Sheet1!B31) nothing happens. When C:\SGSdbms\FH7A.xlsx is used, it opens fine.
I just tried using the html code and viewing with IE. It also actually could not understand the reference. MS Word actually could use that cell reference hyperlink though.
Is this possibly something to do with the setting I have in my Excel file? Or could it be a system setting?
Thanks,
Gabe

SusanJones · Answer

did anyone ever find a solution to this. It is a real problem in ArcMap for pulling in excel files and pointing to an actual specified sheet and Cell.

Grr, the deeper you dig the worse it gets.

SusanGabe,

A Google search suggest this issue is causing many people problems from a vareity of web applications. One possible route you could explore is using JavaScript within the HTML in the Note popup in ArcGIS Explorer. There's an article here: http://www.whirlywiryweb.com/q/officedocs.asp. I did give it a try and ran into further issues but with some persistance you may be able to find a way through this.

Regards

Mike

MichaelBranscomb · Answer

Gabe,

A Google search suggest this issue is causing many people problems from a vareity of web applications. One possible route you could explore is using JavaScript within the HTML in the Note popup in ArcGIS Explorer. There's an article here: http://www.whirlywiryweb.com/q/officedocs.asp. I did give it a try and ran into further issues but with some persistance you may be able to find a way through this.

Regards

Mike