# Microsoft Office Application Help - Excel Help forum > Excel General >  >  Hyperlink: Cannot Download The Information You Requested

## Hypernova

Hi,

I am getting this error recently when adding a hyperlink to a cell in Excel. I add the link into the cell and click on the link and get the error: 

''Unable to open [link]. Cannot download the information you requested.''

I paste the link into a browser and it works fine. I basically want to add a link to my worksheet and when I click on the link it opens it in the browser.

I am using Excel 2000.

Thanks.

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## Barbara Excel

Sounds obvious but have you checked and double checked the URL, I had this issue and it happened to be character typo!
 :Frown: 

Barbara Excel

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## Hypernova

I have checked it about 10 times so far !!! and the link is definitely right, cause my other links are working fine.

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## Haseeb A

May be this help you...

Hyperlink - cannot download the information you requested

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## Hypernova

> May be this help you...
> 
> Hyperlink - cannot download the information you requested



Still does not work after that, Explorer was not set to Offline anyway.

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## Hypernova

Any Other suggestions ?

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## brandnewyou

hello! after struggling with this EXACT symptom of opening links in MS Office, thought i would share HOW IT WAS FIXED.

while searching i found very few fixes for this and the few that i found were ineffective, including the one another user posted above that you already confirmed as unsuccessful. like you describe, the problem URL we had works fine when pasted into a browser. also, this was not limited to EXCEL, but extended to Word and Outlook and possibly to the entire Office suite (but this was not tested)

HERE IS A WORKING FIX from Microsoft: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/218153

the error described is not the exact same message (similar...) but the real key is that this page was also linked from another MS KB that expanded on the reasons the "Fix It" was issued (here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/899927/en-us, section "Hyperlinks from Office to Internet Explorer or to another Web browser") and confirms that the call to open the URL was not making it to the browser at all.

hopefully if you are still having this issue or it crops up in the future, you will have the chance to apply this fix and not struggle with MS's lack of meaningful error messages :P thank you.

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## wittigaj

> hello! after struggling with this EXACT symptom of opening links in MS Office, thought i would share HOW IT WAS FIXED.
> 
> while searching i found very few fixes for this and the few that i found were ineffective, including the one another user posted above that you already confirmed as unsuccessful. like you describe, the problem URL we had works fine when pasted into a browser. also, this was not limited to EXCEL, but extended to Word and Outlook and possibly to the entire Office suite (but this was not tested)
> 
> HERE IS A WORKING FIX from Microsoft: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/218153
> 
> the error described is not the exact same message (similar...) but the real key is that this page was also linked from another MS KB that expanded on the reasons the "Fix It" was issued (here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/899927/en-us, section "Hyperlinks from Office to Internet Explorer or to another Web browser") and confirms that the call to open the URL was not making it to the browser at all.
> 
> hopefully if you are still having this issue or it crops up in the future, you will have the chance to apply this fix and not struggle with MS's lack of meaningful error messages :P thank you.



I just want to thank you for this even if you never see it.  I have had this problem for two years and now it is fixed thanks to your suggestion.  Appreciate it!

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## iviney

> hello! after struggling with this EXACT symptom of opening links in MS Office, thought i would share HOW IT WAS FIXED.
> 
> HERE IS A WORKING FIX from Microsoft: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/218153



Thanks, that worked for me!

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## the_gunslinger

And has just fixed my problem too, where i was encountering the same issue of the hyperlinks not working, giving the unable to download data message, yet occasionally it would work once only

so still a relevant and pertinent thread, thank you  :Smilie:

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