Finding Unknown Links

It can be frustrating to open an Excel file and be continually asked if you want to update linked information, particularly if you are not sure what information is linked. If you want to get rid of links in a workbook, there are several things to try.

First, choose Links from the Edit menu, if the option is available. (It will only be available if Excel recognizes explicit links in the workbook.) From the resulting Links dialog box you cannot delete links, but you can change the links so that they point to the current workbook. When you later save and again open your workbook, Excel will recognize the self-referent links and delete them.

Another way you can find links is to search for either the left bracket ([) or right bracket (]) in your workbook. The brackets are used by Excel when putting together the links to other files. For instance, this is a link to an external file, as it would appear in a cell:

=[Book1.xls]Sheet1!$D$7

When you find links similar to the above, all you need to do is delete them. Make sure that you search each worksheet in your workbook.

You can, if desired, try to use the Auditing tools to locate links in your cells. This can be done manually using the Auditing toolbar, and it works great--for a few cells at a time. If you have many cells and many sheets, a tiny macro may be more efficient.

The following macro will loop through all sheets in the workbook, selecting only those cells which contain a formula. Once selected, the Auditing feature is run against the cells, then processing continues to the next sheet.

Sub DisplayPrecedents()
' Loops through all sheets and selects any Formula cells
' then displays the Precedents of those cells before moving
' on to the next sheet.

' When finished, the focus is returned the first sheet

Dim c As Range
Dim sht As Worksheet

On Error Resume Next

For Each sht In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets
    sht.Activate
    Selection.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeFormulas, 23).Select
    For Each c In Selection
        c.ShowPrecedents
    Next c
Next sht

ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets(1).Activate
End Sub

When the macro is completed, you can examine the different Auditing symbols placed in your workbook. The cells that have an external link will have an icon which looks like a spreadsheet with an arrow head pointing to the cell containing the formula creating the link. You can then examine the cell and delete the link.

Another place to look for links (and which this macro will not look) is in the defined range names maintained by Excel. This is a particularly common place for links if you are working with a workbook that contains worksheets that were copied or moved from other locations. The defined names, rather than pointing to a cell range in the current workbook, could be pointing to a range in a different workbook. Choose Insert | Name | Define to display the proper dialog box. Then step through each defined name, examining the address to which it refers. Delete or change any that refer to other workbooks.

Another place to check is your macros. It is possible to assign macros to toolbar buttons or to graphics in a worksheet. Click on any custom toolbar buttons or graphics and see if you get an error. If you do, this is a good indication that the button or graphic is linked to a macro contained in a different file. If you delete the button or graphic, or change the macro assignment, the link problem should go away.

Still another possible location for wayward links is in PivotTables. When you create a PivotTable, it can refer to data on a different worksheet in your workbook. If you later move that source worksheet to a different workbook, your PivotTable will be linked to the external data source. The only solution here is to delete the PivotTable, copy the source data back to the current workbook, or move the PivotTable to the external workbook.

Finally, you should check graphs and charts. If you recently moved worksheets out of your current workbook into another workbook, it is possible that charts and graphs remaining in your current workbook now refer to data on a worksheet you moved to another workbook. If this is the case, you will need to remove the graph or chart, move it to the other workbook, or copy the source data back into the current workbook.

Since links can hide in so many places, there are special tools you can use to help track down links in a workbook. One such tool is described in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q188449

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2141) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.