What are Relative Hyperlinks?

A relative hyperlink contains only a portion of the information Visio needs in order to locate the target of the hyperlink. To reach the target object, Visio must combine the partial information in the relative link with the hyperlink base, as shown below.

Example 1

If a relative hyperlink consists of

contact_us.html

and the Hyperlink Base contains

http://www.harvardcomputing.com/html/

the resulting URL is

http://www.harvardcomputing.com/html/contact_us.html

Example 2

If a relative hyperlink consists of

\Payroll\Salary worksheet.xls

and the Hyperlink Base contains

R:\Finance and Admin\Accounting

the resulting path is

R:\Finance and Admin\Accounting\Payroll\Salary worksheet.xls

For suggestions about when to use relative hyperlinks refer to Choosing a Link Type.

Creating Relative Hyperlinks

Refer to Creating Relative Hyperlinks and Using Relative Hyperlinks as well as Sharing TaskMaps.

Hint: The choice of Relative or Absolute path is not available until you have saved your TaskMap for the first time.

Maintaining Hyperlink Integrity

If you plan to save your TaskMaps as web pages, you must ensure that your hyperlinks will function both from within Visio and from within the published web pages. The key to maintaining link integrity for relative hyperlinks lies in understanding how Visio stores hyperlink address information. For better or worse, this topic gets a bit technical but once you understand the basics, you’ll be able to take advantage of the considerable flexibility that relative hyperlinks provide.

For a simple example, refer to Sharing Web Pages. For more complete information, read What is the Hyperlink Base?, along with Creating Relative Hyperlinks and Using Relative Hyperlinks.

See also What are Absolute Hyperlinks?