Excel external workbook links break across users (using cloud storage)

Hi Christy,

What you're seeing matches how Excel stores link paths. Microsoft's support article "Description of workbook link management and storage in Excel" (KB 328440) lists three cases:

Source in the same folder as the Master, or in a folder below it: Excel stores a relative path, so the link works from any root.

Source on the same drive but in a different branch (your setup): Excel stores the path from the root of the drive, so \Users\paige_lnsp4p\Documents\Sync\... is saved in the file and breaks wherever the user name or folder differs.

Source on a different drive: the full path with the drive letter.

So relative links do work, but only when the client workbooks sit in the Master's folder or below it. You don't have to move the client workbooks, though. Two ways to keep your structure:

Option A, move only the Master. Save each Master directly in Sync\1 - CLIENT FILES (the folder that holds all the client folders), with a name that says the block and period. Every client workbook is then in a folder below it, so Excel stores relative paths. Re-point each link once (Data > Edit Links > Change Source, or the Workbook Links pane in newer builds), save, then test on a second computer.

Option B, the same drive letter on every computer. Each user runs one line at sign-in (a .bat file in their Startup folder) that points a drive letter at their own Sync folder, for example:

subst S: "C:\Users\chris\Sync"

For Paige it would be subst S: "C:\Users\paige_lnsp4p\Documents\Sync". Point everyone's shortcuts at S:\1 - CLIENT FILES\... and re-point the links once with both files opened from S:. The stored path then starts at the root of S:, which is the same on every computer. This only holds if everyone always opens the files from S:, never from the C:\Users path.

Either way it's a one-time repair, not a per-computer routine.

On VBA: a Workbook_Open macro could rebuild the paths from ThisWorkbook.Path with ChangeLink, but it means .xlsm files, a macro prompt for everyone, and links that quietly stay broken when someone opens with macros off. I'd try A or B first.

One thing that can mislead while testing: the formula bar always shows a full path built from where the file was opened, even when only a relative path is stored. To test, close the client workbooks on another computer, open the Master and use Update Values in Edit Links.

(Drafted with AI assistance and checked before posting.)