hyperlink photos in .shp file

[glenn22]

How I can I get .jpg photos hyperlinked to .shp files so I can view them with ESRI ? I can create an access file with hyperlinks and connect to ODBC, or I can hyperlink directly to a line and then export it as shp. Either way, the links shows up in my data table, but wont show me the pictures. I've experimented with define document view but its not giving me anything. Would it be preferrable to link to .tif,. pdf, .gif, or .bmp rather than .jpg?

Thanks in advance

[Jmurphy]

First welcome to the AUGI Forums. :)
To get the hyperlinks in ESRI you need to do a couple things. First if the hyperlink is a AutoCAD hyperlink (one that shows in the property pallet under the Hyperlink field) you need to include that in the mapexport data. It's under the Entity Properties in the data dialog. (see Map3D.jpg). Then in ArcGIS you need to go to the shp file property and enable that field. (see ArcGIS.jpg)
If you include the full path in the hyperlink it works better than just the file name. As for what file type, jpg works ok for me but it depends on what your system is using to open the linked file. I found that if you had a field in the Object Data field it may not include the whole path if it's a long path and file name. Any time you work with AutoCAD MAP3D and ESRI files it's best to use as short of a path as possible.