Forum Discussion
Microsoft Excel creates CONNECTION LINK after COPY-PASTE instead of the content
Excel creates CONNECTION LINK after COPY-PASTE (CTRL+C & CTRL+V) instead of the cell content (formula) from one opened excel to another opened excel.
It does not say anything and silently creates deadly trap resulting in loss of formulas after opening that file on another computer.
From this content:
=IF($N$1=1;VLOOKUP("A."&$B$15&".NEW";PC!$B:$H ...
it creates this deathtrap (to be very polite):
=IF($N$1=1;VLOOKUP("A."&$B$15&".NEW";'[1 - IT - MMMx.xlsb]PC'!$B:$H ...
Standard behavior unfortunately, no options modification. So by standard this above happens.
User by TRUSTING excel product, has NO reason to double check after EXCEL mechanism if all is ok, he sends that file to another person and they get a prompt at opening saying that:
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.
By BREAKing LINKs excel REPLACES actual FORMULAS with VALUES only, UN-do-ABLE !!!!!
Can anyone tell me if there is such option to BY DEFAULT DENY such behaviour?
Not only it is
3 Replies
When pasting, you can right click and select Paste Special - values from the paste options and it will paste the values instead of the link (you can also add paste special to the quick access toolbar or hit Ctrl+Alt+V).
Also, you could check the option to 'show paste options button' - after pasting a small drop button will appear next to your cell with paste options.
Thnaks JMB17, However, I agree with Rodemark We're looking for a way to stop this Excel behaviour PERMANENTLY. Linking spreadsheets should be an ADVANCED option that user can turn on if they see a use for it, not the default, that confuses 99% of users. We're not looking for a one at the time solution. How do we TURN THIS OFF, FOREVER?
JMB17 But that only pastes one thing at a time and it creates more situations where excel simply acts differently on right click - happens to me all the time.
I need to work with tables (rows, columns) the efficient way, not the opposite.
I thank you for your will to help, but this is not a solution, just an emergency move. CTRL+V should simply paste the content (whether it is formatted, with formulas or not), but definitelly NOT a LINK to another file!
