# Excel: how do I find and delete links?



## ajapale (24 Sep 2004)

A spreadsheet I created has somehow developed a link to another workbook.  It gives a warning message when opened and does not allow the option to disable it.  The other workbook it refers to does not exist. I cannot find the reference in my spreadsheet that refers to this other workbook.

How do I

1. Disable referencing to another workbook in my spreadsheet only?

or

2. Identify the reference in my spreadsheet to the external workbook and delete it?

Needles to say, Microsoft Help is useless (contradiction in terms?!), so hopefully someone here will steer me in the right direction.

thanks in advance.

This interesting question was rescued from oblivion by ajapale


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## rx1950 (24 Sep 2004)

*Re: Excel question*

Can only imagine you cut & pasted something from another workbook, so it your new workbook still has a relative cell reference to it.

It has to be your mistake - Microsoft software is *************************!!!

NOT!


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## msftie (24 Sep 2004)

*Excel*

What version of Excel are you using?



> A spreadsheet I created has somehow developed a link to another workbook.


Links to other spreadsheets don't 'develop' out of thin air. Users enter links.



> does not allow the option to disable it


Have you tried the 'Links' option on the 'Edit' menu?



> Needles to say, Microsoft Help is useless (contradiction in terms?!),


When I do a help search for 'remove link' or 'break link' in Excel 2003, it refers me to the Edit Links option. What did you search for?

Regards - MSFTie

Conflict of Interest: Microsoft employee & shareholder


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## mcullen8320 (24 Sep 2004)

*excel*

What version of Excel are you using?

Excel 2000.


Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A spreadsheet I created has somehow developed a link to another workbook. 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Links to other spreadsheets don't 'develop' out of thin air. Users enter links.

Possible, like the previous reply suggested, that it was embedded in data I copied from another sheet.  Still investigating this.


Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
does not allow the option to disable it
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Have you tried the 'Links' option on the 'Edit' menu?

Yes, it refers to a workbook that I do not have!!!!



Quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Needles to say, Microsoft Help is useless (contradiction in terms?!),
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


When I do a help search for 'remove link' or 'break link' in Excel 2003, it refers me to the Edit Links option. What did you search for?

Same, Edit Links - like I said this was of no help.



Regards - MSFTie

Conflict of Interest: Microsoft employee & shareholder


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## msftie (24 Sep 2004)

*Excel*



> Have you tried the 'Links' option on the 'Edit' menu?
> 
> Yes, it refers to a workbook that I do not have!!!!


But don't you still have the option to 'break' the link, regardless of whether the workbook exists or not? I just tested this in Excel 2003, and I was able to break a link to a file which I had deleted.



> What did you search for?
> 
> Same, Edit Links - like I said this was of no help.


Can you be more specific when you say 'no help'. When I search for Edit Links in Excel 2003, it presents a list of articles - the sixth one on the list is 'break links'. Did you get a list of articles?


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## ecdl (24 Sep 2004)

*Excel query*

If you haven't or don't require links to other spreadsheets try copying the spreadsheet - open a new spreadsheet and paste special, select values - reformat later if necessary.


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## mcullen8320 (24 Sep 2004)

*Excel*

Msftie,

ah, under Edit Links, I get only 3 options in Excel 2000:

1. Update Now
2. Open Source
3. Change Source

No option to delete the link.  It also forces Automatic updates, as the manual update button is shaded.

thx
M


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## msftie (24 Sep 2004)

*Excel*

OK - Looks like the 'break link' option is a new feature. A quick spot of Googling brings me to [broken link removed] which might help.


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## msftie (24 Sep 2004)

*Excel*

A bit more searching (this time on our own support site shows this wizard which you can download & install to help you out. Howzat for service?

[Yes - we were dumb as squirrels to leave this feature out of Excel 2000, but you can't expect everything at once!]


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## mcullen8320 (24 Sep 2004)

*Excel*

Msftie,

Problem fixed.  I had a link that I did not recognise, but could not delete it using the first few instructions.  Had to rename the workbook to the named (linked) workbook, as shown is suggestion 4 - it worked!

Many thanks for your help.

Is it possible for you as a Microsoft employee to document known "issues" like this and link to solutions via the help file?


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## msftie (24 Sep 2004)

*Excel*



> Is it possible for you as a Microsoft employee to document known "issues" like this and link to solutions via the help file?


I'm not sure if I fully understand your suggestion. 

For earlier versions of Office, the help file was delivered as part of the product, and was not updated after installation. So there isn't really an opportunity to link to solutions elsewhere on the web. Even if there was, I can't see that we would be linking to solutions provided by 3rd parties - that would raise a whole raft of legal/liability issues, and who is to say that the 3rd parties will be keeping their sites unchanged. For more up-to-date help, users need to search the support knowledgebase.

In the current version of Office, there is local help text installed on the PC along with a facility to search the online help. But given that the 'break links' facility is in place, I guess the root cause of this issue has been fixed, so there isn't much point in linking to online solutions.

Does this answer your question?


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