Sonoma permissions for Excel to open locally-stored pdf files as hyperlinks

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asp2018 Author

Level 1

10 points

Sonoma permissions for Excel to open locally-stored pdf files as hyperlinks

Is there any way to grant Excel permission to open local PDF files (as hyperlinks) in MacOS?

Right now, I have an Excel file with a summary of invoices, and besides other information, I keep hyperlinks to the original invoice PDF files that are stored locally on my computer.

The problem is that each time I try to click the hyperlink, I get a series of system messages (Alert "cannot open the specified file"/ click OK / try again / Window "Grant File Access", where I read Additional permissions are required to access the following files "...", Microsoft Excel needs access to the file named "....pdf". Select the item to grant access/ press Select, select the file and press "Grant Access" / alert "Opening File. Some files can contain viruses or otherwise be harmful to your computer"... "Would you like to open this file?"/ press OK/ only then I'm able to see the hyperlinked pdf) that make this access cumbersome. Furthermore, even if I allow everything, after I shut down and try to open the same Excel and follow the same hyperlinks, it asks for permission again.

I already gave Settings/Privacy & Security/Full Disk Access to Excel, but in Settings/Privacy & Security/Files and Folders, Microsoft Excel appears with grey font (as in a disabled item).

Has anyone found any way to circumvent this?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 14.2

Posted on Feb 7, 2024 7:43 AM

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Answer 1

etresoft

Level 9

57,548 points

Feb 7, 2024 9:36 AM in response to asp2018

Maybe try to write some macros, custom functions, or similar and target an AppleScript task, as described here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/vba/office-mac/applescripttask

I was able to get far enough to confirm that this AppleScript will do what you want:

on linkopenhandler(paramString)
	
	open location paramString
	
end linkopenhandler

But I don't know much about VBA or creating a clickable link in Excel. I think it is possible though.

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Answer 2

Feb 7, 2024 8:58 AM in response to asp2018

You may want to grant Excel "Full Disk Access" in System Settings->Privacy & Security.

That should do it.

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Answer 3

asp2018 Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 7, 2024 10:08 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

I stated "I already gave Settings/Privacy & Security/Full Disk Access to Excel, but in Settings/Privacy & Security/Files and Folders, Microsoft Excel appears with grey font (as in a disabled item)."

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