linked cells don't update correctly to other notebooks

Hello,

Let me explain.....I have a Master cost sheet that has its cells linked to 6 other notebooks.  The links work fine i.e. if I update a cost in the Master, the other related notebooks correctly reflect the update.  No issues there.  The items in both the Master and related notebooks are in alphabetical order, and here's the problem.

When I insert an item, in the Master, in it's alphabetical spot, let's say line 40, the other notebooks recognized the entry, but the line items 41, 42 etc, are incorrect, they're 1 cell off.  The costs do not follow the 1 line item insertion.  

Is there a way, I am sure there is, to "lock" the cell's info to prevent this.

I've tried adding the new item at the end and then sorting, but the result is worse; cells in the related notebooks are all incorrect.

FYI, I am running MS Office (Excel) 2019.

Thanks in advance for your help.