This known issue is closed due to the decommissioning of Blackboard on the 31st of August, 2021

Cannot access a shared portfolio from a Microsoft Office document (last updated: 18th of June, 2015)

Affected Users:

Portfolio authors and non-UTS users

Description:

Portfolios can be shared with non-UTS users by generating an external URL the non-UTS user can use to access the shared Portfolio. The issue occurs when this external URL is hyperlinked in a Microsoft Office application such as PowerPoint or Word (see image below):

When the user clicks on the link in the Microsoft Office application, the shared Portfolio should open in a web browser. Instead, the web browser displays an error message (see image below):

First Reported:

1st of May, 2015

Status:

This is an active Microsoft issue and not a UTSOnline issue. There are two workarounds available.

Workarounds:

A) Open the External URL directly in a web browser:

1. Open the Microsoft application with the shared Portfolio link.

2. Copy the link address and paste it into the address bar of a web browser.

B) (Windows Users Only) Apply a Microsoft hotfix:

Refer to the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article which contains details of the issue and how to resolve it:

Error message when clicking hyperlink in Office: “Cannot locate the Internet server or proxy server”