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@Paizo Webmaster
I have encountered an issue with your PRD interacting with MS Word and I wanted to get this on your radar.
Apparently when embedding a link into a word document (or other office document for that matter) MS Office causes the character # to be replaced with the characters %20-%20 when a user clicks on them.
This causes a page to load displaying the following message: The requested URL was not found on this server, or you do not have permission to access this area.
For me this is a problem because I use MS Word on my tablet for character sheets, and for quick reference during gaming sessions I would like to use hyperlinks directly to the PRD but if I have to copy and paste every time it gets to be a real PITA.
I know this is more of an issue with Word than with your site, I just thought if its a problem for enough other PRD users Paizo might change the character in its hyperlinks faster than MS patches office. Then again I might be the only person who likes to link the PRD in Office Docs, in which case I can't see you guys devoting the resources.
If anyone else is experiencing this same problem, please post.
I agree with your suspicion that this is more of a general technical issue and really shouldn't fall on Paizo, so let's see if the community can help--I'm certainly willing to try.
I quickly tested the scenario you suggested doesn't work and I didn't have an issue. However, I'm well aware as a developer that because it works for me doesn't mean it works for everyone.
As a possible work-around, perhaps you can create a doc on your PC/MAC, save it as a PDF and then move the PDF to your tablet. However, let's see if we can figure out what's going on first.
To help you, please provide a bit more detail about exactly what you're doing. Describe the process..
For instance, here is MY process--which would be any IT Support person's dream problem description ;)
I opened the PRD in Mozilla FireFox (32.0) in Windows 8.1 on my HP PC. Consequently I also tested using IE (11.0.96) and Chrome (Version 37.0.2062.120 m). From the Ultimate Magic Spell List, I right-clicked on the anticipate peril spell and clicked:
- Copy Link Address (Chrome)
- Copy Link Location (Firefox)
- Copy Shortcut (IE)
I then opened my Microsoft Word 2010 (Version 14.0.7) and pasted the link. I saved the document as pflinks.docx.
I uploaded my doc to Google Drive and then opened the Google Drive app on my IPAD 2 running OS7, downloaded the doc and opened it in Microsoft Word for IPAD (version 1.1.2).
When I click on the anticipate peril link in the doc, it opens Safari on IPAD and goes to the correct page. [In you case, you would describe the error message that you get].
Something like that...
So key questions:
1) What OS is the Word Doc created in? Are you doing everything on your tablet (copying and pasting urls) or are you creating the word doc on you PC/MAC and then transferring to your tablet.
2) What tablet? What OS and version on that tablet? What browser on the tablet?
3) If using a PC/MAC what OS?
4) What version of Word?
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*Sniff sniff*
I smell the blood of a software test engineer...
Ok so Depth...
I am currently writing the document on my work pc (GASP! on my break time, and before I clock in). I have not yet transfered it to my tablet a process which would involve Google Drive as you described above. I wanted to nail down the link issue I'm experiencing now first.
This machine has MS Windows 7 service pack 1 The application is MS Word 2010 (I'm not sure the specific version number and properties didn't tell me) and the doc is saved as *.doc (97/2003) format.
My Process, I open the PRD in Chrome and navigate to this link on the feats list:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/feats.html#weapon-focus
right click and choose copy link address.
in Word I type the name of the feat, in this case: weapon focus. I highlight the text and right click then chose hyperlink, opening the hyperlink dialog box. I then paste what I copied from chrome into the Address field and click OK.
When I press [Control + Click] on the link it opens IE (the ability to change default browser to chrome is disabled on this machine).
The page opens to a screen with the Paizo mascot and the error message I pasted into the OP. when I examine the address bar the URL is shown as:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/feats.html%20-%20weapon-focus
The %20's in the url are codes for SPACE characters, so it's certainly an interesting situation.
Again, I don't seem to have any issues with your process as described.
I also tried the process on my work laptop (with Win 7, IE 9.08, Word 2007)
What version of Internet Explorer are the links being opened with?
Also, when you paste the URL into the hyperlink dialog, do you see %20's in the url then or only later after you attempt to open the link?
If you're able to upload your test doc to Google Drive and make it publicly shared I may be able to tell you more.
When I copy and paste a PRD URL (ie. http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateMagic/spells/hauntingChoir.html# haunting-choir) into the forums, it adds a space in front of the hashtag.
Another interesting quirk! I guess I never noticed because I always use the url tag around the url in the forum post, so even if it looks like it has a space in forum text it goes to the right location when clicked.
The test document doesn't seem to be one that points to a sub-item with a hash '#' in it, was that intentional?
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So this is the link to the second time I uploaded to drive. I doublechecked and it should definitely be pointing here: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/feats.html#weapon-focus the originaldocument saved locally is and was originally pointing to this address.So drive is actively removing the # reference from at the very least the drive version. did you download the document file, or click the link from the google version drive generates?
clicked on the link in Google Docs.
Yeah, so when I click on the link from the Google Drive Word Doc Viewer, it removes the anchor information after the '#". When I downloaded the Word Document and clicked the link, the URL was correct and opened correctly. Gotta love technology!
So what about just using a Google doc?
I was also able to paste a PRD link into a Google Doc and download the doc as a Word doc. The link worked successfuly for me.