Data Source path in Pivot Table changes to absolute on its own

Anonymous
2013-08-19T15:32:36+00:00

Hello.

I have a .XLSX file, that was created long time ago (I don't even know in which Office version, but definitely not 2013), and maybe even was a .XLS file at first.

So it's a 4 MB file with 16 Sheets and 8 Pivot Tables.

All of the Pivot Tables use other sheets from the same file as Data Source.

Data Source for some of them look like this: 'Sheet3'!$A:$E

Everything is fine when I save the file, and open it from saved file. 

But as soon as I try to move the file elsewhere, or rename it, or email it - all Data Source paths change to something like this: '\Users\Sergii_Litnevskyi\Desktop\New folder[FileName.xlsx]Sheet3'!$A:$E

And it happens with all Pivot Tables. The problem is that it links to an old file path, where the file does not exist anymore. And it links to an external file, which is not what I want.

If I Save As and select different path and filename - then it works fine. So it's a workaround for renaming and moving files, but not for sending them to other persons.

I've read some threads, and people recommend disabling "Save external link values", but it does not help. It is already turned off in my office, but it keeps acting weird. 

So what I need is: Save the file, close it, rename it, move it to other place, send it over email as attachment. And then I want to have the same Data Source path in my PivotTables as I had before I saved the file. How can I do it?

My Office version: Microsoft Excel 2013 (15.0.4454.1503) MSO (15.0.4517.1005) 32-bit

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-12-10T18:09:15+00:00

    I found a work around - File - Options - Document Inpector - Inspect document and you will see that it finds the absolute path reference and you can click a button to  remove the absolute path and it works from then on. 

    Note that the tick box "add to data model" is not a good work around because you can't add calculated fields to you pivot table when you do this.

    Microsoft should please find a solution this was many hours of debugging for simple problem.

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  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-06T07:05:59+00:00

    I have the same issue and this is with one Pivot Table that pulls data from another sheet in the same file.

    The sheet that contains the source data pulls from a SQL server, not sure if this is relevant or not.

    If I move the file to another folder or send it to a client the PivotTable keeps looking for the old file which doesn't exist.

    The only workaround I was able to find was to click the tick-box "Add this data to the Data Model" when creating the Pivot Table.

    Then the hard-coded reference to a fixed file name issue seems to disappear.

    It really looks like bug to me, why would the Pivot Table need to store a link to a hard-coded file name if the source for the Pivot Table is in the same file?

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  3. Anonymous
    2014-09-11T15:28:15+00:00

    Hi Francesco,

    With a little more research, we have a root cause. When you right-click to create the file, the option for "Remove personal information from file properties" is selected in Trust Center Privacy settings. I've tested removing that option before creating the PivotTable, and that stops the issue from happening. So that'd be your workaround.

    Regards,

    Anita

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  4. Anonymous
    2014-09-10T22:55:47+00:00

    For those of you who are experiencing this problem - did you right click in Windows and create a new Excel file that way? There is a bug where this occurs if the file was originally created through Windows Explorer.

    Anita

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  5. Anonymous
    2014-05-30T17:24:55+00:00

    For crying out loud. Does anyone from Microsoft evergive a straight answer to a straight-forward question?  Please read the question, stop directing people to other threads that have no relevance, and offer an answer. 

    I am also having this issue with data source references changing in pivot tables (Excel 2010) and would like to have it so that my master file that contains the pivot tables have and retain a data source reference that does not change unless I change it.

    Microsoft:  Is this or is this not possible?

    Thank-you.

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