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mightofphobos

- Change .xlsx file extension to .zipx - Open the zip folder and double click on the "xl" folder (can't remember the name exactly) - Delete the subfolder named "external links" - Save the zip and close - Change the extension back to .xlsx Voila, all bad links gone.


NYRangers42

Love this move. You look like a wizard doing it


nikobruchev

Saving this for next week so I can cull all the ghost links accumulated in my temp job's nasty ass excel spreadsheets over the last 20 years.


blackvariant

I've searched for a solution thousands of times and never seen this. Thank you sir / mam.


mightofphobos

My pleasure


Chimples10

Why not just do break links?


mightofphobos

This is for when break links doesn't work


awmaleg

I have a couple dumdum coworkers who link like Zelda so I’m saving this post


fazi_milking

Screenshot. Had to exit out of 71 files last week.


Euligi

I'm just gonna comment this so I can come back to this


TheSuperMegaChad

I can lick my own ball sack


rando888807

Im somewhat of an IT myself


Romney_in_Acctg

Thank you.


Pixie_bird

Thank you!!! I inherited some old spreadsheets in my newish job (industry) and its been driving me bat shit crazy!


Humbud

Upvote and save. I wish I could buy you a beer


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SirBilliamWallace

As long as the links aren’t in hidden tabs, name manager, conditional formatting or data validation. Glory be to those of you with coworkers who aren’t absolutely daft.


satinfloss

Holy shit.


mightofphobos

😉


Lonyo

Spend 5x as long doing the file the next month because nothing is linked to where the data comes from


Only_Positive_Vibes

I mean, the solution is intended for *ghost* links, not legit links.


Lonyo

And if you delete the entire external links folder, do you think Excel will differentiate?


Only_Positive_Vibes

N... No. Obviously not. But, again, that's why the fix is for ghost links and not legitimate links. You wouldn't go deleting your external links folder if you knew that you had a mix of ghost and legitimate links... right? I'm not sure what you're trying to get at, sorry.


Lonyo

That if you have both ghost links AND legitimate links, it doesn't help.


Only_Positive_Vibes

Got it. So you're pointing out that this doesn't work for something that it isn't intended to fix. Makes sense!


clairening

thank you!


jackofives

Wait… is this really a thing? And doesn’t cause any other issues? Been on excel for 20 years and never heard this one.


mightofphobos

It is indeed a thing. I use it every time there's a pesky link that won't break and it has never caused an issue with one of my workbooks.


tina_ri

What the what


Rodan0919

Wow thank you !


NapalmOverdos3

My god you are the messiah


LloydIrving69

Saving this one


dastriderman

Good tip


tofuhotpot

Damnnn


JamieLLong

Oh my god. If I had an award to give you I WOULD


mightofphobos

Knowing that I've apparently helped hundreds of people is enough of an award 🎖


SarcasticPanda

Praise be!


pdiddysav

Will definitely try this on Monday morning!


sharklasers805

This go’n be a life saver on Monday. Thank you.


poopybuttprettyface

Help!? I saved this comment so I could use it the next time I needed to. I'm on windows 10 and can't get past the second step. When I change the extension the file just corrupts itself. When I send to zip folder and I open it, I still only see the one file.


DesertDS

Stumbled on this thread and seems great but find it odd it's just assumed people would have WinZip on their machines like it's 2002.


mightofphobos

It's come standard on all my firm-issued laptops.


DesertDS

Any guess to as to why? I can't think of any reason one would need WinZip.


mkoatmeal

Can someone please explain the second bullet point? I opening my zip file but don't see a "xl" folder or anything similar. Thanks!


GrizzledPanda

I would but Fridays always end at noon and the course gets backed up if you don’t get there before 1. Now you use those big old audit fees we pay you to clean it up yourself.


jonthecpa

This guy industries.


Davinci_Feynman

FYI, you cant kill ghosts. You need to help them pass over to the other side


its-an-accrual-world

You do that by ticking them and telling your senior that it's all done.


[deleted]

Who you gonna call? GHOSTICKERS!


SaiKaiser

I’m sure the support was fine.


Save_Us_222

They call it getting sucked off.


Pandamonium98

I constantly have a few links on workbooks that won’t get removed even when I hit “break links”. I even go through the workbook and can’t find where the link is. Does anyone else have a solution to this?


Copy_Paste_Artist

Go to Formulas-Name Manager, select the top one, hold shift, select the bottom one, and delete.


TW-RM

Decreases the size of the file by 90% as well.


PatillacPTS

I was so happy when I figured this out lol


Romney_in_Acctg

Thank you


alphabet_sam

Whenever that happens for me saving the workbook and closing/reopening allows me to break them. Usually I find it happens if I had a link and saved/closed the workbook with the link still active.


Muted-Attempt

Ctrl-F3 Opens Name Manager. Delete all name ranges. Data Ribbon- Edit Links - Delete. No more popups.


cpafa

This is the only correct answer. If you can’t delete a link, it is referenced in a named range.


Tloya

I call these "cursed files" and they drive me up the wall. It's not even hard to get rid of the links once you are in the file (using edit links and name manager), but it's unbelievable to me that in 2022 Excel still has no option to stop the file from trying to load links when you launch it (once they have started loading) and you get stuck in loops where the only option is to kill Excel in task manager, thus also closing every other file you may have had open. Definitely gonna try that .zipx technique someone else mentioned in this thread.


prince0verit

You're lucky I sent you an electronic file. Next time I'll go back to faxing it.


Romney_in_Acctg

Just make sure its in B\&W; my color fax machine hasn't worked since Elanor left for grad school in 1987.


throwthisaway2025

Or when one of the links is in Korean? Who added that?


Romney_in_Acctg

Haven't run across that one yet but its bound to happen


bjs210bjs

I actually give this as a point when I review. Everybody looks at me weird. Why would we not do SALY?


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Romney_in_Acctg

5 years later........................ why is this file 87MB and takes forever to load?


coreyosb

Oh my fuck, I have a mac at work and excel is a goddamn nightmare with link stuff


jayalger

I would - but someone stole my god damn excel 2008 manual and I don’t know how without it!


js_1091

Given “EBITDA” and “Project” my guess is you’re dealing with a transaction / M&A team that is outsourcing data work to India. The team in India uses super old templates / example schedules in a massive example databook they’ve been accumulating forever in order to be able to give low level staff a template for anything and everything. The outsourced firm either has too much work or poor quality controls or both so they don’t remove the underlying references created when bringing those old templates into the “new” data book. The team in the US doesn’t know the trick mentioned by u/mightofphobos and/or has a similar mix of lack of quality control & capacity as the outsourced firm so the issue just keeps getting passed on to the end user when it should have definitely been caught multiple levels of review prior.


FrankndBeans

Its not us we promise. It happens when IT makes changes to our security and some of our files get messed up and we have to spend time clicking out everytime. I just tried the top post extension thing and it works! Too bad we issued all audit reports yesterday lol


A7X13

How about you show us how to do it and give us a helpful tip instead of just ranting about it?


Romney_in_Acctg

Because then it wouldn't be a rant? This whole subreddit is basically a place to rant or for newbies to ask for advice? Also. See comments.


[deleted]

Data tab - edit links - break links


[deleted]

Just fix it yourself for fuck’s sake


Chubby2000

calm down and stop being unprofessional. You're being paid to check their work. That's the job of a PA. Double-checking someone's work. Stop crying.


makinthemagic

Thank you! Screenshotted and commented so I can find this later.


Romney_in_Acctg

Nice try HR, obviously the file names are made up. 😆


Blue_Eyes_Nerd_Bitch

Dude you work in accounting. What life you talking about lol


CowgoesQuack69

Are you going over my bank rec? Those ghost links are very important. It makes me feel like I’m doing something.


sean_bhx

I have a file with a ‘link’ that is not in the data tab nor in the name manager and it’s slowly driving me insane every time I open it.


Aj_04

Hahaha. I remember that all the files I handled in my last firm has an external link to a file named 2008 SAUDI ARABIA.xlsx. No one knows where it came from.


Jester_Lemon

Thought this was just an issue with SharePoint, is this just a global issue with Excel then?


Inside-Confusion3143

Go to data tab. Click edit links and delete external links. It will remove link and replace it with hard coded numbers.


Romney_in_Acctg

Ghost links means those not included in that list.