User’s Guide — LinkFixer Advanced

The purpose of this Quick Start is to introduce you to the main features of LinkFixer Advanced so that you can quickly start using the program.

This Quick Start should take approximately 30 minutes to complete.

Tip: We recommend that you print a copy of this “Quick Start” chapter unless you have dual monitors, which will allow you to put LinkFixer Advanced on one screen and this guide on the other. This will allow you to refer to these instructions easily and frequently.

Prerequisites

LinkFixer Advanced should be installed on your computer. To install LinkFixer Advanced, follow the instructions in the Installation chapter of this guide.

Note: You need to have “read + write” permission so that you can modify the sample files.

Sample Files

The following sections cover the setup, location, and use of the sample files that come with LinkFixer Advanced.

Quick Start Sample Files

These Quick Start lessons will use the Excel sample files. However other sample files are available for other file types that can be processed. These additional sample files are stored in subfolders under the LinkFixer Advanced folder on your desktop. When using these other sample file folders you will notice that some of the screens and results may be different than what is shown in this user’s guide.

Location of Sample Files

The Quick Start lessons that are contained in this document are meant to quickly show you how to effectively use the main features in LinkFixer Advanced. Sample files have been included for you to use with these lessons.

By default, the Microsoft Excel sample files used in this Quick Start guide are stored in the “Sample Files\Excel Sample Files\XLSX 2010” sub-directory in the LinkFixer Advanced folder on your desktop.

Using the Sample Files

After you install LinkFixer Advanced, the sample files are ready to use. We recommend that you become familiar with LinkFixer Advanced by using the included sample files first. We have provided a simple method to easily refresh the sample files to their original state after you have run one or more LinkFixer Advanced processes on them.

Restoring Sample Files

If you have made change to your LinkFixer Advanced sample files and you want a fresh start, restore your sample files.

To restore your original sample files, run LinkFixer Advanced. Then go to ☰ | Settings | General and press {Restore Sample Files}.

Every file in your entire sample file folder will be deleted and the original sample files will be restored.

Tip: Do not refresh the sample files between each Quick Start lesson. Each lesson builds upon the previous lessons and the changes you made to your sample files in those lessons.

Starting LinkFixer Advanced

During the installation of LinkFixer Advanced, a folder was created on your desktop called “LinkFixer Advanced”. Open it and you will find several shortcuts. One file therein is a shortcut for LinkFixer Advanced itself. You will also find a shortcut to this user’s guide. Another file is a shortcut to the LinkFixer Advanced Help file.

To start LinkFixer Advanced, double-click on the “LinkFixer Advanced” shortcut.

When you first start LinkFixer Advanced, you will see an introductory welcome screen which contains a brief overview describing LinkFixer Advanced, including definitions of some of the terminology used within the program and the documentation. Be sure to take a few minutes and read through this introduction to acquaint yourself with the program.

Lesson #1 — Scan Only

In this lesson, you will learn to use LinkFixer Advanced to scan selected files. Scanning only reads the files and does not make changes to the files.

Trial Version Limitations: If you are using the trial version of LinkFixer Advanced, please note that the trial version has the following limitations:

1. It scans and reports, in PDF format, the details of a maximum of 10,000 files at a time.
2. The trial will continue to scan additional files and links up to 100 gigabytes of data or 100,000 files, whichever occurs first. Data about the additional files and links (in excess of the first 10,000 files) will be included in: 1) the summary section at the top of the PDF report, 2) the parent file/child file grid at the bottom of the PDF report and 3) in the “Processed” CSV data file.
3. The Inoculate, Cure, Move/Rename and Modify Links features function fully, but are limited to processing up to a maximum of 500 links for each feature per day, for most file types, and 100 links per day for AutoCAD and MicroStation file types.
4. The Inoculate, Cure, Move/Rename and Modify Links features are limited to processing a total of 5,000 links each during the entire trial period, for most file types, and 1,000 links during the entire trial for AutoCAD and MicroStation file types.

1. Click {Scan Only}.

    

   The “Select Folders” section appears as shown below. During the installation of LinkFixer Advanced, a folder was created on your desktop called “LinkFixer Advanced”. Find the “LinkFixer Advanced” folder on the “Select Folders” screen in LinkFixer Advanced. Expand the folder structure by clicking the small arrows next to the “LinkFixer Advanced”, “Sample Files” and “Excel Sample Files” folders.Note: If you have other files selected from a previous run, use the {Clear Folder Selection} button located on the top-right to clean-up and reset your folder selection tree.

   

    

2. Locate the “Excel Sample Files” folder and select the checkbox next to the “XLSX 2010” sub-folder.
   
3. Press {Next Step: Select Files}.

    

4. Select “Process all files in selected folders”.
5. Click {Preview} in the navigation pane above to preview the folders and files that will be scanned.
6. Click {Process Files}.

    

7. The LinkFixer Advanced “Scan Process Dashboard” window is displayed which shows the following “Status” pane.
8. When the scan is complete, click the {View Summary} button below the progress bar to review the Scan report for the files you have just scanned. When done viewing the report, click the “x” in the upper right corner, to close the report.
9. Congratulations, you have completed the first Quick Start lesson! Now, go to “Lesson #2 — Create a Report”.

Lesson #2 — Create a Report

In this lesson, you will create a report of the links contained in the files in “XLSX 2010” folder. This report provides a detailed description of the parent files and the links that are contained in these files.

To return to the main screen, click the home button at the top of LinkFixer.

1. To create a report, click on {Reports}.
2. The “Choose Report” screen shows that you have three options to create a new report.

   

3. Select the “Regular Report...” option for this lesson. This Regular Report is the same as the “Scan Report” you just produced in Lesson #1, except that the Regular Report has additional capabilities to filter files and links. For now, leave the options set as shown above.
4. Click {Select Files} option on the navigation pane and the “Select Files” screen will appear.

   

5. Select “Process files matching specific file extensions and wildcards” as shown above.
6. Check the “Excel” option to process only Microsoft Excel files as shown below. If the “All the file types listed below” checkbox is checked, uncheck this option then check “Excel”.

   

7. Click {Select Links} on the navigation pane.
8. Select “Process all links in selected files” to process all links available in selected files, as shown below.

   

9. Select {Preview}. In this section, you can see the files and links available for processing in parent files and child files that meet the selection and filter criteria set in the previous steps.
10. Click {Process Files}.

    

11. Click the {Run} button. The “Regular Report Process Dashboard” window is displayed while the process is running.
12. When the report process is complete, click on {Summary} below the progress bar to see the Regular Report of the selected parent files, child files, and links, as shown below.

    

13. Click the “x” in the upper right corner, to close the LinkFixer Advanced “Regular Report Summary” window.
14. Congratulations, you have completed the second Quick Start lesson! Now, go to “Lesson #3 — Inoculate.

Lesson #3 — Inoculate

In this lesson, you will safeguard the sample files so that broken links caused by the renaming and moving of these files can be fixed automatically!

Trial Note: In trial mode, the Inoculate process only processes 500 links per day, and 5,000 links during the 21-day trial period.

1. Click the {Inoculate} button available in the LinkFixer Advanced Home screen.
2. Ensure that the “XLSX 2010” folder and its files are still selected if not please select them as shown below.

Note: If you have other files selected from a previous run, use the {Clear Folder Selection} button located on the top-right to clean-up and reset your folder selection tree.

1. Click {Select Files}.
2. The “Select Files” section appears where you can filter the parent files. Select “Process all files in selected folders”. Click {Select Links}.
3. Verify that the “Process all links in selected files” option is selected on the “Select Links” screen.

   

4. Click {Preview}. The “Preview Working Links to be Inoculated” screen appears.

This screen shows the selected files and links that will be inoculated, as shown below.

1. Click {Process Files}.
2. To begin the inoculation process, click the {Run} button as shown below.

   
   

Note: A SQLite Database Performance notification will pop-up when LinkFixer Advanced is run out-of-the-box, and not connected to a full SQL database.

Important: A backup of all files to be Inoculated can be done before running the process. The backup will retain the folder structures and names of your files to a backup folder in a local or network resource.

1. When the Inoculate process is complete, the LinkFixer Advanced “Inoculate Process Dashboard” window is displayed which shows the following “Status” pane.

   

2. Click on the {Summary} button below the progress bar to open the “Inoculate Report”, as shown below.

   

3. Click the red “x” in the upper right corner, to close the LinkFixer Advanced Inoculate summary.
4. Well done! You have now completed the third Quick Start lesson. Please go to “Lesson #4 — Cure Broken Links”.

Lesson #4 — Cure Broken Links

In this lesson, you will learn about LinkFixer Advanced’s unique ability to automatically fix broken links contained in parent files caused by either parent or child files being moved or renamed.

The Cure process does not repair broken links by simply moving child files back to their original locations. Using the Cure process, LinkFixer Advanced actually updates links so that they point to the correct child files, even if the child files were renamed or moved!

In this lesson, we will intentionally break a link in the “Excel2010 Questions File.xlsx” file by manually renaming and moving the “EXCEL2010 Data File.xlsx” file. Then we will use the Cure process to automatically repair the broken link!

Trial Note: In the trial version of LinkFixer Advanced, the Cure function will process up to 500 links per day, and 5,000 links during the 21-day trial period

1. To get started, open your “LinkFixer Advanced” folder located on your desktop and navigate to the “XLSX 2010” folder located under your Excel samples files. Select EXCEL2010 Data File.xlsx, right-click on it and select “Rename” from the menu. Rename the file to “ThisNameHasChanged.xlsx”.
2. Navigate up one level. In the Excel Sample Files folder create a new folder and name it as “XLSX Moved”.
3. Navigate back to the “XLSX 2010” folder. Cut the “ThisNameHasChanged.xls” file and paste it in the newly created “XLSX Moved” folder.
4. Navigate back to the “XLSX 2010” folder and open the “Excel2010 Questions File.xlsx” file. Click on the hyperlink “2010 Excel Data.xlsx”. Note that the link is now broken and does not respond by opening the file, because the child (target) file has now been renamed and moved. This confirms that we have broken this link.
5. Close the “Excel2010 Questions File.xlsx” file in Excel.
6. Go back to LinkFixer Advanced home screen. Click on the {Cure} button.
7. The “Select Folders” section appears. Navigate to the “XLSX 2010” folder, as shown below.

   

   Note: If you have other files selected from a previous run, use the {Clear Folder Selection} button located on the top-right to clean-up and reset your folder selection tree.

   

8. Select this “XLSX 2010” folder so that all the files in these parent and child folders are available for the repair of any broken links.
9. Also select the “XLSX Moved” folder, so that the child file that was moved to that folder is included during the Cure process.
   Important: In this “Select Folders” step of the Cure process, you must select all drives and folders where any parent or child files have been relocated. LinkFixer Advanced needs to be able to find and process all parent and child files in their new (moved) locations, to repair the links between those files.
   Note: When using LinkFixer Advanced to cure the links in your parent files, it is possible that you may not know exactly where the needed child files are located. In such cases, you may need to select a higher-level folder, or an entire drive, to ensure that required child files are included during processing.

10. Click “Select Files”. For this lesson select “Process all files in selected folders.”

    

11. Click “Select Links”. For this lesson select “Process all links in selected files.”

    

12. Click the {Next} arrow button. The “Preview Links to be Cured” screen appears.
    Since the Excel Sample Files were inoculated in the previous lesson, LinkFixer Advanced can now automatically repair the broken links caused by our manual move and rename. Notice that the “ThisNameHasChanged.xlsx” child file will be re-linked, in its new location, to the “XLS2010 Questions File.xlsx” parent file, as shown below.

    

13. Click the {Process Files} screen.
14. Click the {Run} button to perform the Cure process on the selected files.

    

    When the processing is complete, the LinkFixer Advanced “Cure Process Dashboard” window is displayed which shows the following “Status” pane.

    

15. Congratulations, you have now successfully cured all of the broken links, automatically!
16. Click on the {Summary} button below the progress bar to open the “Cure Report”, as shown below.
17. Review the report in detail and note how it lists each parent file and its links, and how it shows which links were automatically re-linked (cured).

    

18. After viewing your report, close the report window.
    Return to your File Explorer. Open the “XLS2010 Questions File.xlsx” file and again click on the hyperlink that now points to the “ThisNameHasChanged.xlsx” file. This link will now operate correctly, causing the file “ThisNameHasChanged.xlsx” to open and display. The broken link caused by our manual rename and move has been automatically repaired!
19. Good work! You have now completed the fourth LinkFixer Advanced Quick Start lesson. Now, go to “Lesson #5 — Move/Rename”.

Lesson #5 — Move/Rename

In this lesson, you will use LinkFixer Advanced to rename an image file and move it to a new server, directory, or folder, without breaking any of the links in parent files that point to the image file.

Trial Note: In the trial version of LinkFixer Advanced, the Move/Rename function will process up to 500 links per day, and 5,000 links during the 21-day trial period

Tip: The Move/Rename process can be used to move or rename parent files, links, and child files whether or not they have been previously inoculated. As long as the links are healthy, you can use the Move/Rename process to move or rename links and files without breaking the links.

Let’s first take a quick look at a parent file that does have a link to an image file.

1. Open File Explorer.
2. Navigate to the “XLSX 2010” folder, in the “LinkFixer Advanced” folder on your desktop.
3. Open the “Excel2010 Questions File.xlsx” file. You can see that it contains a link to the LinkFixer Advanced logo image file “LinkFixer Advanced.bmp” and that the image file is displayed at the top of the spreadsheet as shown below.

   
   

   
   Note: Using the LinkFixer Advanced Move/Rename process, you can rename or move parent files, links, or child files, in batch, without breaking links! Compare this to renaming or moving files using Windows Explorer, or some other manual method, that can result in broken links.
   
   
4. Close this Excel workbook, and minimize File Explorer.
5. On the LinkFixer Advanced home screen, click on the {Move/Rename} button.
6. The “Select Folders” screen appears. Here we will select the files that are to be renamed or moved.
   
7. Ensure that the “XLSX 2010” folder and the “XLS Moved” folder are selected.
   Note: If you have other files or folders selected from a previous run, use the {Clear File Selection} button located on the top-right to clean-up and reset your folder selection tree.

   

8. Click “Select Files”. The “Select Files” screen appears. Select “Process all files in selected folders” option.
9. Click “Select Links”, then select “Process all links in selected files”
10. Click “Preview. The “Preview Selected Files” screen appears, as shown below.

    

11. Click “Create Rules”. The “Create Rules” screen appears. Here you can add new rules to rename the selected files.
12. Click the {Add} button to create a new rename rule. The “Define Rule” box appears as shown below.

    

13. Set the “Method” field to “Simple text substitution” and the “Component” field to “Folder”, as shown above.
14. In the “From” field, type in the folder name “Images”. This is the name of the existing subfolder containing the “LinkFixer Advanced.bmp” logo image file. In the “To” field, type in “MovedImages”. “MovedImages” is the name of the new subfolder that the “LinkFixer Advanced.bmp” file will be moved to. For this lesson, type in “Images” and “MovedImages” exactly as shown below.

    

15. Click {OK} to save and close the “Define Rule” box.
16. Next, we will add another rename rule that will rename “LinkFixer Advanced.bmp” to “LinkFixer.bmp”. Click the {Add} button to add a new rule. In the “Define Rule” box, change the “Component” selection to “Basename”. Then, in the “From” field, type in “LinkFixer Advanced”, and in the “To” field type in “LinkFixer”. The “Define Rule” box will appear as shown below.

    

    Note: These rename rules will be applied to all the links in all the files in the “XLSX 2010” directory.
17. Click {OK} to save and close the “Define Rule” box.
18. In the “Create Rules” window, you will now see the two rename rules that you just added, as shown below.

    

19. Click “Preview”. The “Preview Files to be Moved/Renamed” screen appears. In the “Before” row, you will see a list of the selected files and their links as they currently exist. In the “After” row, you will see the changes that will be made to the files and links as defined by the rename rules. The parts that will be modified are highlighted in yellow text. (Notice that in the “After” row, “Images” has been replaced by “Moved Images” and “LinkFixer Advanced” has been replaced with “LinkFixer”.) These changes will be made when we run the rename process in the next few steps.

    

20. Click the {Process Files} button.

    

21. Click the {Run} button to perform the Move/Rename process according to the defined rules for the selected files.
22. By default, the following warning box is shown if you have not chosen a location to store backups. If you have already made backups of your files, you can select “Do not make automatic backups”, otherwise it is recommended that you can make backups of your production files before running any of LinkFixer Advanced modifying functions (such as Inoculate, Cure, Modify Links and so on). Click {OK}.

    

23. When the processing is complete, the LinkFixer Advanced “Move/Rename Process Dashboard” window is displayed. You have successfully completed the Move/Rename process for all selected files!
24. Click the {Summary} button below the progress bar to open the “Move/Rename Summary”. Notice that the report lists each parent file and its links, and how it shows which links were automatically modified to keep them functioning.
25. After viewing your report, close it.
26. Return to Windows Explorer. Open the “Excel2010 Questions File.xlsx” file and note that the LinkFixer Advanced logo still appears. This means that you have successfully moved and renamed the image file without breaking any of the links that point to the image file.
27. Now, close Excel.
    Note: Feel free to go through these lessons as many times as you may need to become comfortable using LinkFixer Advanced
28. Good work! You have now completed the fifth LinkFixer Advanced Quick Start lesson. Now, go to “Lesson #6 — Modify Links”.

Lesson #6 — Modify Links

In the Inoculate and Cure Quick Start lessons, you learned how to protect links before they are broken so that they can automatically be fixed after they are moved or renamed. In the Move/Rename lesson, you learned that you can move or rename files using LinkFixer Advanced while preserving the links between files, even if they have not been inoculated.

In this lesson, you will use LinkFixer Advanced to repair broken links in files that have already been moved or renamed without the benefit of the LinkFixer Advanced Move/Rename function and which were not previously inoculated using LinkFixer Advanced. This will illustrate how the LinkFixer Advanced Modify Links function can help you fix links that are already broken as the result of recent data migration or folder restructuring.

To illustrate this, we will break some links in a different set of LinkFixer Advanced sample files that have not been inoculated. Then we will use the Modify Links function to fix the broken links.

1. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the “\Sample Files\Word Sample Files” folder in the “LinkFixer Advanced” folder on your desktop. Open the “DOC 97-2003” subfolder.
2. Move (cut and paste) the “Data Files” directory from “DOC 97-2003” up to two levels in the directory structure to the “Sample Files” directory. Rename this “Data Files’ folder to “Moved Data Files”. This simulates a move that could occur in a “real-life” data migration that would break any links that point to files in the “Data Files” folder. To verify that this action has broken links, please open the “LFA_Intro.doc” file in the “DOC 97-2003” folder. Click on the links that say Reports, Inoculate, Cure or Move/Rename and verify that the links are broken.
   Note: Now that we have broken these links, we will scan the parent files to identify the broken links. This is the same procedure you would use to fix links that have already been broken by some previous data migration or rename accident.
3. Close the “LFA_Intro.doc” file in Word and return to LinkFixer Advanced.
4. Click on the {Scan Only} button on the home screen, as shown below.

   

5. Scan the “\Sample Files\Word Sample Files\DOC 97–2003\” folder using the steps you learned in Quick Start Lesson #1.
6. Open the resulting Scan Report and observe that some of the links are now being reported as “Missing”. This means the links are broken because the child files that the links point to could not be found.
7. Then, close the Scan Report.
8. Now, click on the {Modify Links} button in the home screen, as shown below.

   
   

9. The “Select Folders” section appears. Click on the checkbox next to the “DOC 97-2003” sub-folder, as shown below.

   

10. Click “Select Files”. Select “Process files matching specific file extensions and wildcards” option. Uncheck “All” and check the “Word” checkbox option to process only Microsoft Word file types, as shown below.

    

    Note: Since all target files in selected folders are in Word format, you could select “Process all files in selected folders” option and see the same results.
11. Click “Select Links”. to filter the links that you want to process. Select the “Process links matching specific file extensions and wildcards” option. Check the “Word” checkbox option to process only links pointing to Microsoft Word file types.
12. Click “Preview”. The “Preview Matching Links” screen appears where you can preview the results of the link filters you defined in the earlier steps, as shown below.

    

    Note: The links in the sample files in the “DOC 97-2003” folder are stored as “relative” links. On the “Preview Matching Links” screen, you will notice that none of the link paths shown contains the full (“absolute”) path to the child file. Instead, they show the paths to the child files “relative” to the parent files. This “Quick Start” lesson demonstrates the ability of LinkFixer Advanced to handle relative links and illustrates one method of modifying them.
13. Click {Create Rules}. The “Define Rule” screen appears. Click the {Add} button to add a new rule. The “Define Rule” box appears. Next, we will add a rename rule that will rename the links in the parent files in the folder “DOC 97-2003” so that they point to the new location of the moved child files.

    

14. In the “Define Rule” box change the “Component:” selection to “Full Filespec”. Then, in the “From:” field, type in “Data Files”, and in the “To:” field type in “..\..\Moved Data Files”. Be sure to type the “From” and “To” fields exactly as shown. Windows interprets the “..\” character sequence to mean “Go up one level in the directory structure”. Here, we repeat this character sequence twice because we know that we moved the Data Files directory up two levels in the directory structure. The “Define Rule” box will now look like this:

    

    Note: These rename rules will be applied to all the links in all the files in the “DOC 97-2003” directory. LinkFixer Advanced will be able to repair the broken links in this case because we know exactly where the “Data Files” folder was moved to. This would often be the case when links have been broken by data migration and LinkFixer Advanced is being used after the links are already broken.
15. Click {OK} to save and close the “Define Rule” box.
16. In the “Create Rules” window, you will now see the rename rule that you just added.

    

    Click the {Next} arrow button. The “Preview Links to be Modified” section appears. In the window, you will see “Before” lines showing the selected files and their links as they currently exist. In the “After:” lines, you will see the changes that will be made to the files and links as defined by the rename rules. The items that will be modified are highlighted in yellow text. This screen shows all of the changes that will be made when we run the rename process.

    

    Trial Reminder: The Modify Links function will process up to 500 links per day, and 5,000 links during the 21-day trial period

17. Click {Process Files} in the navigation pane then {Run}.

    

18. When the processing is complete, the LinkFixer Advanced “Modify Links Process Dashboard” window is displayed. You have now successfully modified and fixed the broken links in all of the selected files!
19. Click {Summary} to open the Modify Links report. See the report in detail and note how the links to child files were automatically fixed using the defined rename rules.

    

20. After viewing your report, close the report and exit LinkFixer Advanced.
21. Using Windows Explorer, open the “LFP_Intro.doc” file in the “DOC 97-2003” folder. Click on the links that say Reports, Inoculate, Cure or Move/Rename to see that the links are now working properly. LinkFixer Advanced has successfully repaired these broken links, even though they were not previously inoculated!
22. Now, close Word.

    Note: Feel free to go through these lessons as many times as you may need to become comfortable using LinkFixer Advanced.

23. Congratulations, you have now completed all of the Quick Start Lessons for LinkFixer Advanced! For more detailed instructions on how to use more advanced options for the various processes, please see the next chapters in this document.