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Connect to Working Papers

Connector linkages retrieve information from Working Papers databases. To establish the appropriate database connection, there are certain factors you need to consider:

Where the Word or Excel document is located relative to the Working Papers file
If the Working Papers file is currently open
Which linkage protocol is in use

To establish a link between Connector and the Working Papers database:

Save the Word or Excel document in the Working Papers file folder.
Open the Working Papers file. From the Document Manager, locate and open the Word or Excel document.

The connection has been established between Connector and the Working Papers database.

For other possible scenarios and their limitations, where links do not explicitly reference a specific Working Papers file, refer to the following table:

Connection scenarios	Document is located inside the file folder	Document is located outside the file folder
Working Papers file is open	UDF and DDE will both connect and establish a primary (default) connection.	UDF and DDE will both connect. For UDF, you must enable Use Client File opened in Working Papers for UDFs in Tools \| Options.
Working Papers file is closed	Only UDF will connect.	Neither protocol will connect.
Multiple Working Papers files are open	UDF and DDE will both connect. UDF will connect to the primary connection. DDE's connection may be unpredictable, although it will attempt to connect to the last opened active file.	Both UDF and DDE connections may be unpredictable, although they will attempt to connect to the Active file. For UDF, the Active file is the last file to receive mouse focus. For DDE, the Active file is the last opened file. Note: If Use Client File Opened in Working Papers for UDFs is enabled in Tools \| Options, the linkage formula will be calculated upon opening a file.

Connection scenarios

Document is located inside the file folder

Document is located outside the file folder

Working Papers file is open

UDF and DDE will both connect and establish a primary (default) connection.

UDF and DDE will both connect. For UDF, you must enable Use Client File opened in Working Papers for UDFs in Tools | Options.

Working Papers file is closed

Only UDF will connect.

Neither protocol will connect.

Multiple Working Papers files are open

UDF and DDE will both connect.

UDF will connect to the primary connection.
DDE's connection may be unpredictable, although it will attempt to connect to the last opened active file.

Both UDF and DDE connections may be unpredictable, although they will attempt to connect to the Active file.

For UDF, the Active file is the last file to receive mouse focus.
For DDE, the Active file is the last opened file.

Note: If Use Client File Opened in Working Papers for UDFs is enabled in Tools | Options, the linkage formula will be calculated upon opening a file.

Notes:

We recommend that Excel documents contain either UDF or DDE linkages exclusively, with UDF being the preferred protocol. If a document contains both UDF and DDE linkages, values will not be retrieved from the same source file, and will be inconsistent. You can change link paths to ensure that links connect to the same source file, or convert DDE links to UDF to help resolve any discrepancies.
All Word or Excel documents calculate upon opening a Working Papers file, unless otherwise specified. If changes are made to the active file while your Word or Excel document is open, you will need to recalculate (Tools | Recalculate) to update your links.

To determine if your workstation will open Word and Excel documents with functioning Connector linkages, please refer to the following table:

Licensed software installation	UDF-based linkages	DDE-based linkages
Working Papers and Connector	Links will connect	Links will connect
Only Working Papers	Links will not connect	Links will connect
Only Connector	Links will not connect	Links will not connect

If you want to share your documents with users who don't have Connector installed, you can disable the document's links while retaining link values. After disabling the links, users will be able to view the documents, but will not be able to make any updates.

Connect to Working Papers

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