Jan 17 2019 11:27 AM
Hey all,
We are in the middle of a project which will involve moving our Excel files to a different location, and I would like to know how Excel handles links.
For example, this is our current folder format:
H:\excel\file1.xlsx
H:\excel\file2.xlsx
H:\excel\folder1\file3.xlsx
H:\default\file4.xlsx
etc.
Some of those files link to the other files
This is how we will eventually have it
h:\common\excel\file1.xlsx
h:\common\excel\file2.xlsx
h:\common\excel\folder1\file3.xlsx
h:\common\default\file4.xlsx
So basically moving all the folders and files that are currently under H:, to H:\common
Will excel automatically know that the files were moved and update the links?
What is the best way to handle this?
Jan 18 2019 02:41 AM
Hi,
There are several methods files can be linked and it's likely you may get some issues regardless of how you try to update them.
If you know you only have formula based links then use the built in 'Edit Links' option. (see attached picture) open your file, select the DATA tab and select Edit Links then select the link and Change Source... if the option is greyed out then there are no formula links between files.
Alternatively, if you only have a few files, you could try the following steps...
This should take care of hard-coded formulas. Moving linked files 'normally' updates the formulas when both the donor and recipient files are open.
You may also like to try Microsoft's Add-in tool called "Inquire", to list the links your file has with the outside world.
If your links are via Macros or VIB, you will probably have to update them manually.
In future, try to set your VBA code so it opens and saves along the lines of...
ActiveWorkbook.Path & "\" & "\" & myFile.xlsx
That way, it won't matter what the folder is the file is in.
If the links have been created using Power Pivot, unfortunately you'll need to manually update them
One final point, I see you are increasing the number of characters in your file path. Be aware that there is a limit to the number of characters you can have. Once reached, the links may not work.
Kind regards
Dec 27 2023 02:53 AM
Jan 03 2024 01:37 AM
I would try to test this out yourself, as each case could be slightly different, based on the way user set up.
The way I'd go about is to go to my source file (assume EXCEL) and change one of the entries to 99999999 - something large. Then do your other changes and see if it pulls through to Power Query correctly. If so, change the 9999999 back, otherwise, investigate further.