Unlink Stubborn Sticky Links In Excel


Key to Instructions
To help readers follow the instructions in this article, we use two different typefaces.

Boldface type identifies the names of icons, agendas, URLs and application commands.

Sans serif type indicates instructions and commands that users should type and file names.

Q. I have an Excel spreadsheet that links to both current and deleted files, and therein lies the problem. Try as I might, I can’t break the links to the deleted files. I’ve used the search command to find them, but to no avail. Any suggestions?
A. Indeed, that can be a problem. One of Excel’s strengths is its ability to get information by linking to other data sources, including other workbooks. However, sometimes those connections can cause problems, especially when they are hidden or deleted. To its credit, Microsoft recognized the problem and created a Delete Links Add-In wizard to locate and delete links. You can download the wizard from the Microsoft Web site at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q188449& .

To install the wizard after downloading, launch Excel and open Tools and Add-Ins . Then click on the Browse button and locate the file you downloaded, called dellinks.xla and click on OK .

To run the wizard, go to Tools, Wizard, Delete Links and follow the on-screen steps.

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