Create shortcut to an OPEN file

[KentuckyDavid]

Why on earth can't you "save" an open file as a shortcut to a destination folder of your choice from the Save As dialog???!!!

I often work with multiple Excel files located in multiple folders. I want to be able to create a folder on the desktop, and then save shortcuts to my currently open files in that folder. Remarkably, I cannot find a way to do this! Since the open files (perhaps 15 or more) are located in multiple folders and could be several folders "deep" in some instances, it is an enormous task to (1) write down the names of all the open files; (2) to close all the open files; (3) locate each file again - one at a time - and create and save shortcuts to my desktop folder.

Am I overlooking something simple? Or, is there a macro or downloadable utility to enable this functionality?

THANKS for any help.

David

 

[Diablo II]

add-in.com, has and add-in that will make and excel sheet that will work like a file dir. that you can use, and it will put all excel files on the sheet, and all you have to do is click it to open the file. about $189.00

or if you are good at VBA you can do like i do and make a dashboard. my dashboards i use to open all my files and put info in then save and close just by clicking buttons. if not good at VBA, then you can try make and Excel sheet then , record a macro opening each sheet, name the macro so you know what sheets it will open, then you can add button to the sheet, and put the macro to the buttons,

or go to each sheet in the files and right click on the file copy and past sortcut to desktop. then put a folder on you desktop and put the sortcuts in your foulder.

 

[RalphA]

Perhaps this will help.

Click on Help,Contents and Indes, enter "shortcut", double click on "Creating: (under "shortcuts"), choose "Add a folder or file shortcut to the Favorites folder", and follow the instructions. If you wish, you can right click on that folder in Favorites, create a short cut, and the place it on the desktop, or, from the desktop, drag it to one of the sides of the screen, where you can then hide it, and have it open only when you place the mouse cursor on it. Let us know if this does it for you.

 

[KentuckyDavid]

Hello DiabloII and RalphA:

Thank you very much for your replies; but I am afraid I still cannot create the shortcuts as needed.

I presently have 14 Excel files open. This is typical for my work. Many are very large (>5MB). I accumulated these over the course of several days. Some were created fresh as I worked. I can save these files throughout the day - wherever I want them and without any problem. But there is NO WAY that I have found that I can create shortcuts to these files while they are open and save these shortcuts to a folder of my choosing. If only there was a "Save As: Shortcut" option in the Save As dialog box!!!

The ONLY WAY appears to be to CLOSE the files, and then dig my way back to them through Windows Explorer and then create shortcuts to them BEFORE I reopen them. But as I said in the initial post, they are usually not located together - instead they are in various folders and often are 3 or 4 folders deep in these different places, making it a painful and time consuming process to create a simple folder containing a collection of shortcuts to these files.

This is SO FRUSTRATING!

Yes, I know that I can create a shortcut IN ADVANCE of the initial opening of each file. But this is not always practical in the flow of things. Besides, that would not help in the case where I have created one or more new files (on top of the dozen or more source & reference files) for the Projects I work on.

Diablo, I did not investigate the $189 utility, since that is a high price to pay for this functionality. When it comes to VBA, I am about a "3.5" on a scale of 1-10. I'm sorry, but I have thought about it and don't know how to create a macro to do what I am needing to do.

I am still hopeful that a relatively straightforward solution is possible.

Thanks again.

Regards,

David

 

[Diablo II]

try makeing a master workbook then add hiperlinkes to all your files and folders, then each time you make a new workbook then just add to the sheet. when you wont to open a sheet just click on the linke sheet will open. save the master sheet to your desktop.

 

[RalphA]

EUREKA, I have the answer!

On any part of your open Excel worksheet, do a Copy. Now, on your Desktop, do a right click, then choose "Create a Shortcut". I could hardly believe how easy it was, AFTER I had found this simple mthod!!!

Now, create a folder on your Desktop, and drag it to one edge of the Desktop screen. Grab your shortcut(s) and drag them into this folder, which, if you wish, you can do a right click on, choose Autohide, and done!