Guides
Excel Keeps Asking to Update Links? How to Find and Break Hidden External Links
Updated 2026-10-13
Every time you open a certain workbook, Excel warns: "This workbook contains links to one or more external sources that could be unsafe," or shows a security bar asking whether to update links. You click Don't Update, and it's back the next time.
Where external links come from
- Formulas or whole sheets copied from another workbook carry references like
[Other.xlsx]Sheet1!A1.
- Copying a sheet also brings the other workbook's defined names along.
- Files built from templates or old reports keep links from years ago.
- The linked file was renamed, moved or deleted long ago, but the link remains.
Step 1: break the links in Edit Links
- Back up the file.
- Choose Data > Edit Links (called Workbook Links in newer versions) to see which files are linked.
- Select a link and click Break Link. Formulas that reference that file are replaced with the values they currently show.
Breaking links can't be undone: the formulas become plain values, so keep a backup.
Step 2: links that won't break, or come back
Edit Links only handles links in cell formulas. These places are often missed:
- Name Manager: open Formulas > Name Manager and look in the Refers To column for external file paths,
.xlsx or #REF!. Delete names nothing uses.
- Conditional formatting: open Home > Conditional Formatting > Manage Rules, show rules for This Worksheet and check each sheet's rule formulas.
- Data validation: a drop-down list whose source is in another file.
- Charts: a data source or series name referencing another file.
- Shapes and buttons: an assigned macro that lives in another workbook.
- Hidden sheets: unhide them first, then check.
You can also press Ctrl + F, set Look in to Formulas and search for [ or .xls to find external references in formulas.
If you just want the prompt gone
If the links are intentional and you only want to stop the prompt, choose Edit Links > Startup Prompt and pick the option not to display the alert.
You can also clear Ask to update automatic links under File > Options > Advanced, but that applies to every workbook and silences a useful security warning, so it's not recommended.
Fix it in one step
- A check-up lists the workbook's external links along with broken formulas.
- Clean for sharing with Break external links ticked freezes formulas that reference other files to their current values and removes the link parts and the names pointing at them, so the prompt no longer appears. If charts or data validation still use an external file, the link is kept and the report says so.
Clean for sharing can also turn formulas into values and remove the author, company and other document info, which is handy before sending a file to a client. The cleaned file has no formulas, so keep the original.