Hyperlinks don't work for some XY data source layers and route event layers

Description

Adding a hyperlink to some XY data source or route event layers will result in the link not being saved and the hyperlink tool will not work.

Cause

Manual hyperlinks are not supported by layers based on non-OID tables (tables without an FID or OID field). While ArcMap will let you add a link to features in these layers, the links will not be saved.

Affected layers include XY data source layers and route event layers based on:

¤ Text (.txt) files
¤ OLE DB tables (external database)
¤ Non-registered tables in a Geodatabase (includes Access and SDE type Geodatabases)
¤ SDE 3 tables

Solution or Workaround

• Though manual hyperlinks are not supported for layers based on non-OID tables, these layers do support field-based hyperlinks:
  
  1. Add a new field to your table.
  2. Populate the field with hyperlink text.
  3. In ArcMap, create a layer from this table (for example, XY layer).
  4. Turn on field-based hyperlinks for the layer (Display tab on Layer Properties dialog box).
  
  
• Export data to a format that supports manual hyperlinks.