Launching files from UR

[dasymington]

Hi, I'm new here, but very impressed with Ultra Recall. I've got a question, though, about opening the original files that have been imported: if I right-click and then choose open shortcut on a Word (or just about any other type of Info Item) the original file opens in Word, which is what I want; but if I do the same with an Excel file, UR attempts to open the UR copy of the file and can't (presumably because it's locked). I can see this is happening because the web tool bar in Excel shows the address as file://C:\Documents and Settings\Dave\Local Settings\Temp\UltraRecall\...

Can anyone tell me how to set things up so that Excel documents are treated the same as Word documents?

Dave

[kinook]

UR doesn't treat Excel files differently than any other stored document. Is the file opening in Excel (you indicate that it shows the file's address in Excel's address bar, so it sounds like it is)? What exactly is the error message displayed and when does an error occur?

[dasymington]

No, the file's not opening. The file path that's shown in the address bar seems to be to a temporary file generated by UR; it's not the actual file path. The file doesn't open; in fact, Excel freezes until I move to a different Info Item in UR, when it then closes. So, whereas UR sends the real file path to Word, it's sending the path of its own generated temporary file to Excel, and it might be that Excel can't open it because it's locked by UR.

[kevina]

Is the Info Item storing this Excel file or is it linked only (if linked, is it a local file?). If stored, is the url for this Info Item populated/valid?

Is the Excel file being displayed in the internal browser view of Ultra Recall (in the Item Details Pane)? How large is the Excel file in question? Do you get this same behaviour with all Excel files or only this one?

Regardless, it shouldn't be locked by UR unless it is being displayed in the Item Details Pane (as mentioned above)...

[kinook]

If a document is stored in UR and editing externally, it will always make a copy of the file in the TEMP path and open that copy in the external application [1]. If a document is linked only, or if the linked URL of a stored document is edited externally, then it will open the document specified in the item's URL. In either case, UR itself will not keep the file open.

As kevina mentioned, if UR is also configured to show the document item internally (its extension is in Tools | Options | Browser | File extensions to display in internal browser view), then for a stored document, the copy in the TEMP path will be opened in the internal browser (and depending on how Windows is configured, IE may in turn host Excel to edit the document). So, it could be that an instance of Excel editing the document in UR's internal browser could be clashing with an external instance of Excel trying to open the same document.

[1] http://www.kinook.com/UR/Manual/?edi...externally.htm

[dasymington]

The Info Item stores the file; the url is correct (if I copy it and paste it into Windows Run, the file opens).

The Excel file is being displayed in the internal browser. It's happening with all Excel files; they range in size from about 13k upwards.

Dave

[dasymington]

Originally posted by kinook
As kevina mentioned, if UR is also configured to show the document item internally (its extension is in Tools | Options | Browser | File extensions to display in internal browser view), then for a stored document, the copy in the TEMP path will be opened in the internal browser (and depending on how Windows is configured, IE may in turn host Excel to edit the document). So, it could be that an instance of Excel editing the document in UR's internal browser could be clashing with an external instance of Excel trying to open the same document.

Yes, but if I press ctrl+shift+J or choose Open Shortcut, should that not open the original file, i.e., the one that's defined in the URL? It does for Word and other document types.

[kinook]

Ctrl+Shift+J (or holding shift down when choose Item | Open Document) will open the current item's URL (linked document) externally in its associated application. Ctrl+Shift+Q (or Item | Open Shortcut with shift down) while on the URL would do the same thing.

Ctrl+Q (or Item | Open Shortcut) will normally open the currently selected URL in the internal browser (depending on Tools | Options | Browser | Launch shortcuts in external browser by default).

What may be happening is that you opened the linked URL in the internal browser via Ctrl+Q, then opened the linked URL externally via Ctrl+Shift+J.

[kevina]

The issue is related to how Excel is embedded in a hosted instance of Internet Explorer (which is what Ultra Recall uses for the internal browser view).

When Ultra Recall displays a .doc file internally, it is displayed using Word hosted by Internet Explorer (which is hosted by Ultra Recall). If you then launch this word file externally, it is displayed in an external instance of Word (and it is no longer displayed in Ultra Recall). This all happens automatically with no direct intervention by Ultra Recall.

This doesn't occur the same way with Excel. When an .xls file is being displayed internally in Ultra Recall, all external instances of Excel are unusable. Ultra Recall has no control over this behaviour (which is simply a difference between how Word and Excel behave when hosted by Internet Explorer). My speculation is that this difference is probably due to the sharing/locking capabilities of Excel but that is only a guess.

The solution is to either do your viewing/editing of Excel files externally or internally (but not both). Related to this, either remove .xls from the "File extensions to display in internal browser view" list found at Tools | Options | Browser <tab> and launch them externally to view/edit, or just edit them internally and don't launch them externally.

Sorry for the long response, but it required significant detail to fully explain what is occuring...

[dasymington]

Thanks, kevina and kinook. I understand now and I've removed Excel from the "File extensions to display in internal browser view" list. It's important that I can see the context of information in Word documents, but not so much for Excel documents, which I would normally want to open anyway.