WD2000: Link to a Word Document Causes Word to Stop Responding in Windows 95 and Windows 98 (209934)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Word 2000
  • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 98
  • the operating system: Microsoft Windows 95
This article was previously published under Q209934

SYMPTOMS

When you double-click an OLE object that opens a Microsoft Word 2000 document, you find that Word stops responding (hangs) when you quit the program.

CAUSE

This problem can occur if all of the following conditions are true:
  • You are using the Microsoft Windows 95 or Microsoft Windows 98 operating system.
  • You create a shortcut to a Word document and then drag and drop the shortcut into a document created by an OLE-enabled program (such as Word or Microsoft WordPad).
  • You open the OLE-enabled program document, and then double-click the link to the shortcut, which opens your Word document.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, create a link to your Word document directly, instead of creating a link to a shortcut. How you do this depends on the program that you are using.

To do this in Word, follow these steps:
  1. On the Insert menu, click Object.
  2. Click the Create from File tab, click Browse to locate the source document that you want to link to, and then click Insert.
  3. Click to select Link to file, click to select Display as icon, and then click OK.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

About Linked and Embedded Objects

You can use a linked object or an embedded object to add all or part of a file created in an Office program, or in any program that supports linked and embedded objects, to another file. You can create a new embedded object, or you can create a linked object or embedded object from an existing file. If the file that you want to use was created in a program that does not support linked and embedded objects, you can still copy and paste information from the file to share the information between programs.

The main differences between linked objects and embedded objects are where the data is stored and how it is updated after you place it in the destination file.

Linked objects
With a linked object, information is updated only if you modify the source file. Linked data is stored in the source file. The destination file stores only the location of the source file and displays a representation of the linked data. Use linked objects if file size is a consideration.

Embedded objects With an embedded object, information in the destination file does not change if you modify the source file. Embedded objects become part of the destination file and, once inserted, are no longer part of the source file. Double-click the embedded object to open it in the source program.

REFERENCES

For more information about linked and embedded objects, click Microsoft Word Help on the Help menu, type about linked and embedded objects in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topics returned.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:5/28/2003
Keywords:kbbug kbnofix KB209934
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