How to break an external link that won't break

Anonymous
2012-01-11T18:42:31+00:00

I have studied all the Excel help available and followed the advice, but I have encountered an external link in an Excel 2010 workbook that simply will not break. No matter how many times I select "Break Link," this zombie is always there. I have tried deleting range names that came from the source file, to no avail. I "break the link" in the destination file, save, close the file, reopen it -- and the link is still there. I have tried adjusting the options every which way, no luck.

How do I absolutely, positively, completely and forever, send this link to Davy Jones's locker?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2012-12-04T08:40:04+00:00

Dear Long_John_Silver

I had a similar issue and in addition to Raju S Das' recommendation, I have also checked the data validations for various fields; this is where I found some zombie links that were not required anymore.

Maybe you can find some in your file too and remove them:

  • Select the cells where you expect the zombie data validation (I could narrow it down to one section on a specific worksheet)
  • In the Data Tools section of the Data ribbon, select Data Validation from the Data Validation dropdown
  • Check if there is any list validation with a reference to a linked file location.

Hope this helps.

Best regards,

Roger

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-06-07T13:43:56+00:00

    1-  Unprotect Sheets (if any)

    2-  go to DATA ribbon > connections group > Edit link

    3-  Continue the process on all worksheet

         you may find Break link button active on any

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-07-12T23:54:55+00:00

    Raj, If you are still there, thank you so much for the advice. Worked like a charm.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-07-13T04:00:15+00:00

    Obviously this is a software bug in Excel that has been there for years.  I tried all many recommended break link methods per MS Excel info, but wont work at all. I suggest microsoft should seriously fix this bug.

    I found findlink from below works really well. But I dont know how it does it.

    http://www.manville.org.uk/software/default.htm

    Best of luck.

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  4. Anonymous
    2016-07-27T03:56:54+00:00

    I found another "source" of the link that is not detected by the "Edit Links" menu.

    It is in the Drop-Down box (or other feature in "Form Control").

    This is feature you can find in the ribbon "Developer | Insert | Form Control".

    Once you change or delete the cell reference that links to other workbook, the link would disappear.

    Hope this might helps.

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