Excel links not loading pages, but when the link is pasted in the browser it works.

Question

I have placed hyperlinks in an excel spreadsheet though my ruby-on-rails application. The links are to some privileged pages that require, After the login I am supposed to t

Answer 1

This is a problem with Excel's internal URL handling, which has issues with modern web design patterns (e.g. sessions + redirects).

Here's a client-side solution that bypasses Excel's internal mechanisms and uses the OS default URL handler instead. Note that since it uses macros, this approach requires appropriate security settings.

In your worksheet's VBA module, add the following code:

Option Explicit

Private Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32.dll" Alias "ShellExecuteA" ( _
    ByVal hWnd As Long, _
    ByVal Operation As String, _
    ByVal Filename As String, _
    Optional ByVal Parameters As String, _
    Optional ByVal Directory As String, _
    Optional ByVal WindowStyle As Long = vbMinimizedFocus _
) As Long

Private Sub Worksheet_FollowHyperlink(ByVal Target As Hyperlink)
    ShellExecute 0, "Open", Target.Address
End Sub

This is based on the answers of two other SO answers.