This user's problem is the perfect example of why traditional spreadsheets are not built for real-world collaboration. You have a carefully indexed document collection, but the moment anyone with a different server name tries to use it, every link breaks. And then you are asked to make the whole thing portable, usable outside the company, with no internet uploads, which sounds impossible because, in a traditional spreadsheet, it basically is. The frustration here is not a failure of effort; it is a failure of the tool.
The core issue is that Excel links are absolute. They point to a specific file path on a specific machine. When your coworker sees "Joe" instead of "Bob," the link is dead on arrival. And when you need to send the collection outside the company, the entire path structure collapses. This is not a problem you can solve by being more careful with your file naming or by adding more columns of instructions. The spreadsheet itself has no concept of relative location, no way to say "look in the folder next to this file." That limitation is baked into the design of legacy spreadsheet software.
What you need is a system that treats documents as portable objects, not as fixed addresses. An AI-native spreadsheet can do that. It can store document references that are relative to the index file itself, so the same link works whether the collection lives on "Bob," "Joe," or a USB drive. It can also bundle the entire collection, index and all, into a single portable package that opens on any machine without requiring network reconfiguration. No internet uploads needed. The documents stay local; the links stay smart.
The practical takeaway is this: stop fighting the limitations of a tool that was never designed for this job. The problem you have described is exactly what modern spreadsheet technology solves. When you choose a tool that understands context and portability, you stop spending time fixing broken links and start spending time actually using your document collection. The solution exists, and it does not require you to change your security policy or your network name. It only requires you to change your spreadsheet.