Links are not updating in excel

Does your Excel spreadsheet suddenly starts showing “we can’t update some of the links error”? If you don’t know why you are encountering such an error then let me explain this to you first.

If your Excel workbook is having a link with the data of another workbook or file which was shifted to some other location. In such case when you try to open your Excel workbook it will throw the following “Excel we can’t update some of the links error”.

This message is given a clear indication that your workbook having external references from the source which is currently not found.

Well, this issue can be fixed easily by updating the link path of the source file. But if you are unable to fetch it or not having access to the document which was originally linked. Then in that case you can try updating the link by disabling the automatic update feature or by fixing/removing the Excel broken link.

To know how to perform all these tasks to fix “we can’t update some of the links “Excel error. You need to go through the complete post.

So, let’s dive in…!

But before getting into the fixes section. First, take a look over the practical scenario which user like you are already been facing regarding this error.

Practical Scenario:

I have a destination workbook which contains links to various source documents.  I have used this set up for months and have never had a problem.  Each month I click edit links – change source – and then click on the new source file that I want to use for the current month.  This month when I have done that I keep getting an error message ‘Cannot access XXXX.xlsx’.  Help!!

I always try to link to the file on my local PC, but have noticed that the links always change to d.docs.live.net/[strange string of letters/numbers] – I assumed this was just something to do with working with OneDrive but don’t know if this is causing a problem?

Thanks in advance…!

SOURCE: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Excel/Edit-links-change-source-file-error-message-Cannot-access-XXX/m-p/150290

How To Remove “We Can’t Update Some Of The Links In Your Workbook” Error?

Method 1: Unlock Protected Excel Worksheet

Mostly it is seen that users encounter “Excel edit links error source not found” issue also when they had protected Excel worksheet. Know complete steps to unlock password protected Excel worksheet. This process will help to Break The Link To An External Reference In Excel.

If you have the password of your protected Excel sheet, then the task of removing protection only takes a few seconds. You can try any of the following methods to unlock your protected sheet:

Way #1. Make a right-click on the Sheet tab. Now from the context menu choose the Unprotect Sheet option.

Way #2. Go to the Review tab on your Excel application menu bar. Now from the Changes group, hit the option Unprotect Sheet.

Way #3. From the Home tab under the Cells group, tap the Format option. after than from the drop-down menu choose the Unprotect Sheet

If your Excel worksheet is password-protected then the Excel application will ask you to put the correct password. So, in that case, just type the password and tap to the OK option.

But if your Excel worksheet was not locked with any password then tapping on the Unprotect Sheet option will unlock the protected sheet.

Method 2: Fix Excel Break Links

 Keep a backup copy of your Excel workbook before starting up this procedure. As, the actions can’t be undone.

• Firstly, you need to open your Excel workbook which is showing the “Excel break links not working” or we can’t update some of the links in your workbook error.
• After then go to the Data tab, and hit the Edit Links option.
• You will see that the Edit Links command appears unavailable if the Excel workbook doesn’t have any links.
• Now in the Source file box, make a selection for the broken link that you want to fix.
• Now tap to the Change Source
• Search to the destination of a file having linked data.
• Choose the new source file after then hit the Change Source
• Tap to the Close

Method 3: Remove Excel Break Links

When any Excel user breaks a link in their Excel spreadsheet, all the formulas that are referring to the source file will attain their current value.

 Suppose, if your Excel cell is having the formula =SUM([Budget.xls]Annual!C10:C25) and gives the answer 45. In that case, after breaking the link the formula would be converted to simple digits 45.

So, if you get stuck to the Excel edit links not working issue then break the link to an external reference in Excel. let’s know how to perform this:

• At first, Open your excel workbook showing the Excel edit links not working error.
• Now go to the Data tab, and hit the Edit Links
• If your workbook doesn’t have any links then the Edit Links command seems inactive.
• If the Edit Links command seems active then go to the Source file From this box choose the broken links which you want to delete.
• After the selection tap the Break Link
• At last, make a press on the Close

Method 4: Disable Excel Update Links Error Message

In the Excel workbook, we make external links with some other Excel workbooks. In such case, when you try to open your Excel workbook having the external links each time it will show the following warning message:

So, learn how can you get rid of this annoying Excel update link error message. Well, you can perform this task in two ways:

• By Disabling the update links message with Excel Options
• By Disabling the update links message with the Edit Links feature

Disable Update Links Message With Excel Options

You can easily fix Excel update links error message by disabling the update links message with Excel Options. So, please do the same as instructed below:

• Go to the File tab of your Excel workbook and then tap the Options button. This will open the Excel Options dialog box; from this tap the Advanced option present in the left pane.
• After that uncheck the option Ask to update automatic links present within the General Take a look at the figure:

• now tap to the OK option for closing the opened dialog box. Again, when you open this workbook, you will find that the links were automatic gets updated. And you won’t get any error messages this time.

Disable Update Links Message With Edit Links Feature

The first method to fix Excel update links error message is by disabling the update links message with the edit links feature. Let’s know how it is to be done:

• Tap to the Data after than on the Edit Links option, have a look over the screenshot:

• Within the Edit Links dialog box, tap the Startup Prompt option present at the bottom. Check out the following figure for a clear idea:

• In the opened Startup Prompt dialog box, select either Don’t display the alert and update links or Don’t display the alert and don’t update automatic links option as per your need.

•  Tap to the OK option and close the opened dialog box. After making the complete procedure when you open the workbook next time, you won’t get any update link message in your Excel workbook anymore.

Wrap Up:

Linked object and hyperlink are two different things so don’t mix them up. All the solutions mentioned above can’t fix Excel broken hyperlinks. To catch more information on Excel hyperlinks, check out the following article:Easy Ways to Fix Hyperlinks in Excel Are Not Working

If our Excel worksheet contains a link to data from another worksheet that has been changed to another location, every time we try to open our workbook in Excel we will get an error message informing us that some links cannot be updated. This means that if we save external data in our worksheet, it is currently not available.

What are the links and reasons causing the problem

Excel has a tool called Links or External References that will allow us to copy all the data from one sheet and paste it into another, both within the same book and different books. This link means that, if the data of the source sheet changes, this change also affects and is carried out on the destination sheet. It is important to clarify that this function is different from that of copy and paste or hyperlinks, since no updated linking process is carried out in these ways. In this way, every time the source content of the link is updated, it will also be carried out in the book where we have linked it.

When working with links, a warning message may appear indicating that it is not possible to update some of the links in our workbook at a certain time. If this happens we can continue without updating or editing the links that we create may be wrong. This can happen for a number of reasons, either because the source file no longer exists, the spreadsheet was protected, or the location of the source file has been changed.

Ways to fix the error updating links in Excel

Next, we are going to see different actions that we can take to try to end the problems when updating links in Microsoft Excel.

Find external references to fix the problem

In our book, all cells that have links or external references have the name of the book they are linking to, so the cell will contain the extension of the book. This is something we can use to find cells and repair them to fix the issue with the update.

To do this in the Home tab, click on the “Search and select” button, and click on “Search”. In the text field we must enter * .xl * and click on the Search all button. In the box at the bottom it will show us all the cells that contain that link. Once the link that gives us an error is found, we can delete or modify it in order to solve it.

Disable the error message when updating links

In our Excel workbook we may make external links to other workbooks. In this case, when we try to open our Excel workbook with external links, it will show us a warning message. To correct the error message we can disable it within Excel Options.

Click on the File tab and then on the Options button. In the new window that will open, we click on Advanced in the left panel. Later, in the panel on the right in the General section, we uncheck the Consult box when updating automatic links. Finally, click on OK to close the window. From now on, when we open a workbook, the links will update automatically without receiving any error messages.

Link update control

By creating links with other textbooks we can control whether they are updated or not. For this, both the book from where we create the link and the book where we link must be accessible at the time of its opening. Once both workbooks are opened on the same computer, the link is automatically updated. In case we do not have the origin open, a message will appear asking if we want to update the data.

To update the links, within the “Data” tab, we must click on the “Update all” button.

Unlock a protected spreadsheet

Sometimes we can find that the problem to update links in Excel can happen when we have the spreadsheet protected. If we have established a password that protects our sheet, we can try to eliminate it to see if it solves the problem.

To do this, it will only be necessary to click with the right button on the “Sheet” tab, in the lower left part. This will make a contextual menu appear where we must choose the option “Unprotect sheet “. In the event that our spreadsheet is password protected, we must enter the correct password and click Apply. In the event that it is not locked by any password, clicking on Unprotect Sheet will unlock the protected sheet automatically.

Alternatively we can also unlock a protected spreadsheet from the “Review” tab that we find in the upper right part of Excel. From here, in the “Protect” section, click on the “Unprotect sheet” button.

Repair broken links

Before making this option, it is convenient that we save a backup copy of our Excel workbook. Later we open the Excel workbook that shows us an error with the links and click on the “Data” tab. Here we will see that the “Edit Links” command is not available if our book does not contain any links.

In the “Source file” box we must select the broken file that we want to correct and click on “Change source”. Now we only have to find the destination of a file with which we have linked data, we choose a new source file and click on Change source.

Disable DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange)

The DDE dynamic data exchange protocol was designed by Office to be able to exchange data between the different applications that compose it, for example, between PowerPoint and Excel, Word and Excel, etc. When we try to open a document with this protocol, a warning window will appear indicating if we want to update the data of the files that have been linked.

If we want to deactivate it, we can click on the “File” and “Options” tab. In the new window in the Advanced section, we look in the “General” section and check the “Skip other applications using Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE)” box in Excel.

When you work with multiple workbooks in a business, you import data from various external data sources. The external source can be another excel workbook, csv file, database, etc. So when you save and reopen your workbook, you may get a warning like this. This warning says,

This workbook contains links to other data sources.

• If you update the links, Excel will attempt to retrieve the latest data.
• If you don’t update the links, Excel will use the previous information.

Note that data links can be used to access and share confidential information without your permission and possibly perform other harmful action. Do not update the links if you do not trust the sources of this workbook.

This prompt will have three action buttons Update, Don’t Update and Help.

So, what is this?

When you establish connection using formulas, power queries or other database connection methods, you allow excel to access and share information to other sources. So when you reopen a workbook that contains link to other sources, excel informs you that your file contains links to other files. Your confidential information can be accessed by those sources.

So what can you do?

There’s one button Update. When you click this button, the link will be refreshed and the file will be able to share and receive data from the source. Update your file with those links only if you trust the sources. If you don’t trust the source then use the button don’t update. If you don’t update the source link it will use the previous data.

Issue With Update Links

You will notice sometimes that even after updating the links you will get this warning: «We can’t update some of the links in your workbook right now. You can continue without updating their values, or edit the links you think are wrong.» You have two options Continue and Edit Links…

So why this happens.

This can happen due to many reasons. The source file may not exist anymore. The source files location has changed. The data model is changed and sometimes for anonymous reasons. But it does happen.

How to solve this can’t update link issue?

You may want to update some links but don’t know where the issue is.  To know the issue, you need to know all the links to the workbook. To track all the links in the workbook do this.

Select the main workbook. Go to data —> Connections —> Edit links. A prompt will open that shows all the connection to the work book.

Here you can select each source link and choose what happens to it. You can choose to update the data using Update Value button. You can change the source, open the source, break the links, or check status of the connection.

Here you can check for the problematic connection and solve it.

«Can’t Update Links»  Prompts Even After Breaking Links. How to stop this prompt?

It happen sometimes that even after breaking the links, excel shows the «Can’t update the links» prompt at startup. To forcefully stop this prompt do this:

Go to data —> Connections —> Edit links. Here click on the startup prompt button on the bottom left corner.

Here, we have three options. The first is «Let user choose to display the alerts or not». This is default. The second option is «Don’t display the alert and don’t update automatic links». The third option is «Don’t display the alert and update links».

So if you don’t want to update the links and don’t want the prompt choose the second option and hit OK. If you want automatic update without the prompt, use the third option.

This will force excel to not to show the prompt.

Personally, I recommend you to see the source of the problematic link and solve it from the root.

So yeah guys, this how you can solve the links updating issue in Excel. I hope it was helpful. If it didn’t help you, let me know the problem in detail in the comments section below. We will solve the issue together. If you have any other query related to excel or VBA, mention that too in the comments section below.

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Are you using MS Excel 2013, when you receive this error?
If so, it maybe due to the «3D reference in your named DataRange» in Excel 2013 or because you’re referencing a range or cell in a closed workbook.

Excel allows the defining of names that refer to specific cells or ranges of cells in that workbook, similarly (using the Define Name tool in the Formulas tab) you can assign a formula to a name and then use that name in place of the formula.

The named formula or named data range is part of a collection in that workbook’s (workbook1) objects and can be used in different workbook (workbook2), but the link to the defined name in the other workbook must be done one of two ways.

1. Link the defined name with a formula like this
   =’C:FolderPathWorkbook1.xls’!NamedFormula or NamedDataRange

2. Or Create a defined name in workbook2 (it can have the same defined name as workbook1’s or a new name) and then refer workbook2’s defined name to workbook1’s defined name. Select Define Name on the Formula tab and copy a link like this in the Refers To Field:
   =’C:FolderPathWorkbook1.xls’!NamedFormula or NamedDataRange

   • Note these links will only work when being used in simple formulas which treat the link as a direct links. It will not work with more complex formulas when the original workbook (workbook1) is closed because the link is often treated as an indirect link in complicated formulas.

To work around this issue, use either of the following methods:

1. Save workbook1 and workbook2 as .xlsb files.
2. Do not add an external reference link to a defined name that refers to a 3D reference or named range.
3. Or open both workbooks

For more detail information, please refer to the following link:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2755120

If you’re still receiving an error/ warning message after trying all my above suggestion. You might want to some troubleshooting.

Try this:
— Open Excel. Under Tools->Options->Calculation, select the Update remote
references box.
Open your workbook. Make sure the box the remote reference box is checked. Save your workbook this way after updating the link. Close workbook and Excel.Restart Excel and open your workbook.
— Look under defined names and delete all that you don’t need or that have broken formulae. Run a FindLink search, to pin point the problem.

This process worked for one of workmates with this exact problem.

I hope this helps, if not let me know. There might be a 4th solution.