Find Missing External Links in Excel - excel

My spreadsheet has external links that I cannot find. It pops up the "workbook contains links to other data sources" warning upon opening. I don't want to just suppress the link warning, I need to remove the links.
I've tried all the basic ways to find external links that I'm aware of, and it's still happening. I've tried:
Searching for "[" in formulas in the entire workbook
Charts
Checking the named ranges from the Formulas/Name Manager menu
Checking objects
Conditional formatting menus
Is there another way to find external links? Thanks.

It can come from several sources. In my case, it came from the formula of a rule in the conditionnnal formatting. And no Excel search tool could find it.
In the case of an xlsx file, you can find it with an automatical approach:
In the Data tab, click on Edit links. All your links should be displayed. Mark down the values of the Location fields.
Unzip the xlsx file. Technically, an xlsx file is a zip container. See this post for more information.
Now search the whole directory for the Location strings.
Figure out to what your links are related. In my case, it was inside a x14:conditionalFormatting xml node. No wonder the Search tool did not work, it was not in a cell.
Modify that formula
Game over.

I would check the names collection in your workbook.
If you have a named range, for example, that has links to another workbook this will do this also... You can examine these in Excels Name Manager, or some VBA code executed in the debug window...like:
for i = 1 to names.Count: debug.Print Names(i): Next

I had an Excel 2013 file that whenever opened displayed a message regarding a missing external link. I could not find such a link (and location in file) using many suggestions and tools (Kutools, FormulaDEsk etc.).
Finally, I changed the file from xlsx to zip, opned and searched and deleted the gokder relating ton External Links (and changed back). Problem solved!

Related

Excel VBA: Export workbook without links to external data/convert formulas to its values

I have come to a problem that I had kind of sorted, but it came back to haunt me.
I have a set of Excel files with information (origin) that feed an aggregator/wrangler/chewer in Excel (workbook) and then I have a set of files, one for each subsidiary (output), that have the same structure (sheets, hyperlinks, headers) but only get the relevant info for that subsidiary.
Right now I have everything automated, I download, prepare the information and update the origin files, then the only thing I need to do is open and save all the other documents (aggregator/subsidiary exports) and I do it with VBA.
In order to distribute the subsidiary files I have to come up with something that can have the same structure as an Excel workbook, but doesn't have the links to the aggregator, or the subsidiaries won't be able to see the information as there will be #REF errors everywhere (even on some sheets headers).
The solution that I put in place was exporting the files as MHTML (Single File Web Page), as it managed to keep the sheets and hyperlinks and everything as intended, while only needing to "open [subsidiary file].xlsx & save as [subsidiary file].mht", but then I came to learn that it is only possible to open this file type in IE, which not everyone has access to.
Then my problem is that I need an alternative to this solution while using only "plain" solutions as the IT department won't allow me to use anything more than standard administrative tools (standard MS Office suite).
I tried to replicate the subsidiary files by copying and pasting every sheet, but then I cannot come up with a way to keep every formatting (mainly header width) as intended when pasting as "values", or as "values and source formatting", and this approach doesn't escalate well.
Do you know of a way of saving the file as is but without the formulas, or preventing them from updating when the file reopens (even if you say no to "update links" prompt sometimes some cells ate updated, don't know why), or some different approach?
The idea is to generate a file that no matter who the user is, and does, is able to see the information, and cannot screw the file/info in it, and if possible keeping it "easy" to update with a "simple" macro.
Kind regards,
Flávio

Cell references/formulas in Excel to other workbooks on Sharepoint don't update values

The problem
I have eight Excel documents that are stored on a Sharepoint site. One of those documents (“receiving file”) contains formulas/cell references to the other seven documents (“source files”) on Sharepoint.
Everything works when the references are created.
Once the workbooks are saved and closed and then reopened, the receiving file no longer updates the values from the source files.
The files are synced in Windows Explorer and opened in the desktop version of Excel. Also, all eight files are opened at the same time.
The reference will first look something like this
='[Source file.xlsx]Sheet1'!$A$1
After closing and reopening, the references will look like this
='https://somecompanyname.sharepoint.com/sites/SitefortestingExcelreferences/Shared Documents/[Source file.xlsx]Sheet1'!$A$1
If I now change a value in the source value, the change will not appear in the receiving file.
What I tried so far
Setting “Calculation” to “Automatic.
Click “Calculate Now” and “Calculate Sheet”.
Double-click into the cell with the reference and hit enter.
In “Data > Queries & Connections” click “Refresh all”
In “Data > Queries & Connections > Edit Link” I clicked on update values. It did not help. However, I tried to rebuild a simple system with just two files and a single reference, and here it did work
Starting from point 5) I programmed a little macro that updates all links in all open workbooks (it did not help either):
Option Explicit
Sub UpdateAllConnections()
Dim wbWorkbook As Workbook
For Each wbWorkbook In Application.Workbooks
wbWorkbook.UpdateLink Name:=wbWorkbook.LinkSources, Type:=xlExcelLinks
Next wbWorkbook
MsgBox "Update complete.", vbInformation, "Complete"
End Sub
If I remove the path to SharePoint, so the formula looks like this
='[Source file.xlsx]Sheet1'!$A$1
It works again (until I save and reopen).
I found the following on Microsoft Answers (about OneDrive but it's probably the same issue):
https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/excel-value-links-not-updating-on-onedrive/e48a7680-71e6-4a77-9eb1-e03ec7f0e3e0
I contacted the official O365 support desk and they told me this is built into the connection between Excel and OneDrive.
They have received thousands of complaints and there is no fix for it.
No option to tell Excel/Office/OneDrive to link to local copies of files on 1D by default.
No fix is planned as this is not how MS envisions how Excel/1D should be used.
My question
Any suggestions? Are there any tools in Excel that can be used to update the linked cells automatically or manually? Might SharePoint settings prevent the update?
If not, since removing the file path to SharePoint seems to work is there a way (using VBA) to remove the full file path from all cell references, so
='https://somecompanyname.sharepoint.com/sites/SitefortestingExcelreferences/Shared Documents/[Source file.xlsx]Sheet1'!$A$1
becomes
='[Source file.xlsx]Sheet1'!$A$1
I could probably loop through all cells and simply replace the path with nothing, but that would only work if I know the file path beforehand and if all the files are stored in the same SharePoint folder.
I had the same issue and here is my workaround: I can open the source file on the Sharepoint site by clicking ... and then Open in App (as opposed to Open in Browser) The referecence cell in the receiving file will become ='[Source file.xlsx]Sheet1'!$A$1 again and get automatically updated.
My workaround would be to consolidate external links onto a single sheet, and manually or use a macro to copy / hard paste to another identical page that you use for the links.
Just run the macro when you have the workbook open on your desktop to update the values.
Even simpler, you could also have a sort of database with linked values in a column and hard copies pasted into another column. This would be simpler than two identically sized sheets.
BUT, you could also go crazy and have named ranges like quarterly_total_formula and an analogue somewhere else called quarterly_total_valueonly and then write a macro to iterate over each with a for each looking for things "LIKE" *_formula and hard paste each result into the complementary *_valueonly spot... but then you'd need a macro to check that they were all paired... and by that point you might as well not waste your time in Excel and develop in Power BI, Tableau, RMarkdown, or heck learn Adobe Illustrator or work directly in HTML.

Excel Connections - Edit Links Not Working?

I do not know if this has been asked elsewhere but I looked and googled around for 30 mins and couldn't seem to find much. I have an old file with some drop down boxes for certain cells in an excel spreadsheet. I never really know how it works to be honest, and there are no macros within this sheet. But somehow, there are some links between some cells within the same file.
I recently changed file names and made copies to this master file, but some of the newer copies drop down boxes no longer work, and seems to be wanting to get to the original file. I tried editing this/these link(s) under the ribbon interface using 2016 - Data > Edit Links (under connections), and it brings up a pretty dialogue box, which has this change source button. But after I clicked it and selected the correct file (it's a circular reference, so it is the current file), it simply did nothing and did not update the file name or anything else shown within the dialogue box. And of course, my links are not fixed and the drop down boxes are not working.
I have uploaded the file here with all data stripped out, but the links are still intact there for your review. Any suggestions why I am seeing this? If I want to fix the links, what can I do to achieve that without fixing each of the cells individually? Thanks!
The file is here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Sn27jnQmYvqWHho6Oa0yz7PXVGU4zwPJ
These reason you're seeing these links is that there are cells with Data Validation that point to an external file (cell B71, for example).
Remove all Data Validation that is referencing external files, save the file, and re-open. The links should be gone.

Excel Hyperlinks to Excel documents not working

We have a excel document that contains a ton of Hyperlinks to other Excel Documents & File Paths all located on our network. All of a sudden the Hyperlinks to the Excel Documents have broken, Excel will state the error below;
Some files can contain viruses or otherwise be harmful to your computer. It is important to be certain that this file is from a trustworthy source.
Would you like to open this file? OK/Cancel
We click OK and nothing will happen. Opening file paths is still working fine and I've created another Excel document which has links to a PDF, a File Path, a Word Doc & an Excel Doc. Still only the Excel that isn't working.
I have followed several articles online that suggest how to disable the warning message,below is a well detailed article for 2007/2010 but we had tried to adapt it for 2013/6. Nothing I have tried is working, does anyone on Stack have any suggestions?
https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/925757/how-to-enable-or-disable-hyperlink-warning-messages-in-2007-office-pro
We are using Office 2013/6 Standard/Professional.
Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
Many thanks,
Sean
This happens when you copy the excel file to different location:
You can do test: place hyperlink into 1 cell save it, and then copy the file to another location: you can see that hyperlink of your copied excel file would not work.
However when you choose the same file to "Save As": the hyperlink of the saved file in different location will work.
For excel internal hyperlinks (hyperlinks to other worksheet cells) similar thing happens when you rename the file: hyperlinks won't work, but they will work if you choose to "Save As".
This means, the solution to this problem would be: copy the excel file to it's original location and name it with the original name (when hyperlinks were working). In this case hyperlinks will work. Then if you need to move or rename the file: open the file from original location and select "Save AS" anywhere you would like to save, in this case hyperlinks of your saved file would work.
Conclusion: relative references to the Excel file in hyperlinks are not automatically updated when externally file is moved or renamed.
So we managed to find out what was the cause of this problem.
Microsoft are currently working on fixing this as stated in the article below, but as a quick fix you simply need to remove Windows Update KB4011051.
https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/Hyperlinks-to-another-Excel-workbook-no-longer-work-after-updating-to-the-August-1-2017-update-KB-4011051-dfe0aa5c-a2ba-41b8-923a-fe0e4556f936
Thanks for the assistance,
Sean

Excel Formula referring to Another excel in SharePoint's Document Library

We have formula in xls file as below
='SharePoint_FilePath/[ExcelFileName.xls]SheetName'!$B$4
For e.g.
='http://SharePointServer/Sites/SiteName/Shared Documents/[ExcelFileName.xls]SheetName'!$B$4
Once we download this file containing above formula, then it automatically appends local path to formula i.e. New formula will be:
='Download_Path\http:\SharePointServer\Sites\SiteName\Shared Documents\[ExcelFileName.xls]SheetName'!$B$4
I have tried to search on google, found some hints like as below:
Use UNC path for referring to another xls, instead of web url
path.
Uncheck "Update links on Save" in excel options.
But those are also not working.
Can anyone suggest any recommended way?
Thanks
In my user environment, we asked them to use Map Folder to SharePoint Portal and use consistent drive letter for the mapping.
Despite this, it is not good to do referring like that. It should be all in one Excel file. Links like this is easily broken (e.g. change of file name or moving to another folder) and very hard to maintain.
Should avoid doing that.

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