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Hyperlinks in excel don't work anymore. I get a message that cookies are disabled. When I copy and paste the hyperlink into the browser search box, it works.

  • 3 replies
  • 9 have this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by plumbob

plumbob
plumbob
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I have a number of hyperlinked sites in an excel spreadsheet that I use all the time. Suddenly I can't use them. I get a message that cookies are disabled. When I try to enable cookies for third parties, it won't save the setting. If I delete the third party reference, it saves okay. If I copy the hyperlink address and paste it into the browser, it works fine. I've tried refreshing Firefox, and only succeeded in losing a bunch of my settings. What could the problem be?

I have a number of hyperlinked sites in an excel spreadsheet that I use all the time. Suddenly I can't use them. I get a message that cookies are disabled. When I try to enable cookies for third parties, it won't save the setting. If I delete the third party reference, it saves okay. If I copy the hyperlink address and paste it into the browser, it works fine. I've tried refreshing Firefox, and only succeeded in losing a bunch of my settings. What could the problem be?

All Replies (3)

plumbob
plumbob Question owner
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All of a sudden, it seems to have corrected itself. I did nothing different. In an effort to solve the problem, I rebooted several times, but it didn't change the outcome. After posting this question, it worked. I guess it's like taking your car to a mechanic to fix a problem and there's nothing wrong when he looks at it.

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
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Some thoughts in case it happens again:

Does the linked site require preexisting cookies in order to load the specific links in the workbook?

If Firefox is open and running in the background, with you already having visited that linked site, then any necessary session cookies are available when the new page opens. On the other hand, if Firefox was closed and it launches its first window when you use the link in Excel, there are no session cookies yet. This could be important if there are no persistent cookies, either, which could occur in any of these scenarios:

  • Firefox is set to delete cookies when you close it, or
  • Firefox is set to start automatically in a private window, or
  • Third party software removes cookies when you close Firefox
plumbob
plumbob Question owner
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Thanks for the response. I don't know if it requires pre-existing cookies or not - I assume it does. I haven't had this problem before (that I can recall), and I've been using this spreadsheet with dozens of hyperlinks for months. When I copied the hyperlink address and pasted it into the browser, I thought it would set a cookie. But when I clicked on the hyperlink immediately afterwards, it still didn't work. The problem seemed to resolve itself as soon as I posted my question. Next time, maybe I should try that first rather than wasting an hour or so chasing ghosts.