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
    2013-08-07T21:42:20+00:00

    Thank you so much.

    I have the same problem and it fix by using the Add-Ins FindLink :)

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-09-12T10:17:17+00:00

    Thanks, it worked great for me ! :-)

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-11-08T20:12:24+00:00

    Thank you!

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-12-09T21:54:16+00:00

    Hey I found another fix. I had an extremely large and complicated excel file.

    I clicked edit links when opening the file, and then changed the source to itself. It actually worked and removed the notification that I needed to update the links.

    I changed the source to a different file before and that one was stuck too.

    After breaking any links possible and changing the last remaining bugged link to itself, my file is back to normal.

    Hopefully that helps someone and you don't have to search every cell.

    (assuming you aren't using the linked file in the first place)

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    6 people found this answer helpful.
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