Forum Discussion

Wendy Goeminne's avatar
Wendy Goeminne
Copper Contributor
Mar 21, 2017

"Ghost links" in excel

Dear all,   I have a link in my excel (visible in data/edit links) but I cannot find in which cell this link exists. I have already tried to search for it with Ctrl F, but no result. If I try to re...
excel
claudia.lo's avatar
claudia.lo
Copper Contributor
Apr 07, 2017

Hi

I've experience of such when there are name range setting contain reference from other file.  Use 'Defined Names' functions under 'Formulas' tab and check if there are range name addressed from other files. 

 

Regards

Claudia

  • M-Miller's avatar
    M-Miller
    Copper Contributor
    May 03, 2022
    Mine was a Defined Name in the Formulas tab. thanks claudia.lo
    • guitarkenn's avatar
      guitarkenn
      Copper Contributor
      Jul 25, 2022

      I had multiple phantom links and none of them showed up in the Find and Replace dialog box. I was able to get rid of some of the phantom links with Name Manager, but I figured out that Name Manager does not show names which are on hidden sheets. So, unhide all sheets in your workbook, then go to Name Manager and delete all bad references. Then re-hide the sheets you want hidden. Also, you may have to check if your workbook has Very Hidden sheets (yes, that is a real thing which is different from Hidden sheets) and unhide these too, otherwise they will not show up in Name Manager.

       

      Hope this saves someone else some time.

      • phyllisfee's avatar
        phyllisfee
        Copper Contributor
        Sep 13, 2022
        Hi! Have lived with ghost links for an exceedingly long time. I now need to share some excel workbooks with a new team and must remove them. Shot in the dark here but ...

        How do I unhide "Very Hidden" sheets?
        For that matter, can I unhide "Very Hidden" Macros, Names, External Data Sources?
  • Keely_Gilmore5701's avatar
    Keely_Gilmore5701
    Copper Contributor
    Aug 20, 2021
    Claudia! YOU RE THE WINNER!!! I've been going CrAzY trying to find this. It's in all my financial statments... YES I use excel for this. UGH

    Thank YOU!
    Keely
  • Scott Burton's avatar
    Scott Burton
    Copper Contributor
    Mar 30, 2021
    Names Manager was the trick I was looking for! Thanks Claudia from 4 years ago! I had a host of buried link references in the names manager....and they were not visible anywhere else on the sheet.
  • Paul Meier's avatar
    Paul Meier
    Copper Contributor
    Oct 10, 2018

    This was the issue for me and the named ranges seem to have accumulate and persist from years old work. 

     

Resources