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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  2. Anonymous
    2017-08-12T16:08:25+00:00

    Try mine - I'm both JAndrewSmith and jjasmith4.  No ribbon additions, so when you open my file, hit Alt-F8 to see the macro to run.

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  3. Anonymous
    2017-08-12T20:13:50+00:00

    With some trail and error I figured out that it was due to a conditional format.

    What you have to do is remove conditional formatting or validation or a chart or one of the many other things it could be, then close the workbook and reopen it. Saving the workbook isn't good enough you have to open and close it on every trial.

    I agree with another poster. This issue has been going on for about half a decade. If Microsoft knows about all these "hidden links" why can't they make the Break Link button, you know, break *all* the links?

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-09-29T20:10:31+00:00

    This problem continues with Office 2016. I have a zombie link that will not go away. Here are some things I've tried:

    1. Following multiple FAQs, I searched formulas for https and .xl, and it doesn't find anything.
    2. I used ASAP Utilities to unprotect all sheets, and then used Break Links. The link is not removed from the Edit Links window.
    3. I used Mercedes' code to find the links. All that does is list the complete URL of the link, but it doesn't tell me where the link is at.
    4. I debugged Mercedes' code to see if wb.LinkSources(xlExcelLinks) had some property, such as .parent, that would tell me where the link lives, but there is no such property.
    5. I used jjasmith4's AllLinks code to find the link, and it returns None.
    6. My workbook does have a few conditional formats, but none of them have links in them.
    7. My workbook does have a few named ranges, but none of them refer to external URLs.
    8. My workbook does have a drop-down list, but it does not refer to an external URL

    Any other ideas?

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