If you perform the steps on the previous page and there are no Non-Phantom links, then the workbook probably contains Phantom Links. If there are hidden worksheets, unhide them and complete all of the steps above on the sheets that were hidden.If this option is greyed out, the file probably doesn’t contain any hidden sheets however, be sure to also check for Very Hidden Sheets with the Visual Basic Editor.Check for hidden worksheets by going to the Format Sheet Unhide menu.If you or anyone else has hidden any worksheets in the file, there may be links on these hidden sheets.Amend or Delete the Rule to remove the Link.Check each Rule to ensure they are referencing data in an external file.Select “This Worksheet” from the drop down.What I thought would be a quick job turned into something much longer when I discovered there. Go to the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager Just mail merging a document using a standard excel spreadsheet.Repeat steps above for the remaining worksheets in the file.Save, close and reopen the file to see if this has solved the problem.Select Paste Special and then select Validation.Select all cells with Validation press the F5 key, click the “Special” button and select “Data validation”.The easiest test is to remove all Validation and see if the link remains (you may want to make a copy of your file before performing this step).Links can exist as part of Data Validation criteria You can find out the Edit Hyperlink button in the Toolbar of most Office 2007/2010/2013/2016/2019 applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook.Close and reopen the file to see if this has solved the problem (you may want to make a copy of your file before performing this step).Delete these objects and then save the file.On each worksheet, press the F5 key, click the “Special” button and select “Objects”.Links can exist in Object such as text boxes, auto shapes or drawing objects.If any of the charts is referring to cells in another file, change or delete the data references.Check the data ranges and x-axis labels for each chart to ensure that they are not referencing data in another file.If there are any charts in the file, the charts may be linked to cells in another Excel file.If any of these names is referring to cells in another file, change or delete the Name.Select each Name to see what is in the “Refers To” box.If you find a real link, change the file reference or delete the link.You can use the * wildcard character in your search.Search all tabs simultaneously by pressing Shift + Ctrl + Page Down and then running the search.Run a search (Ctrl + F) for the file that appears in the Edit Links menu.Excel opens the Insert Hyperlink dialog box (similar to the. Go to the Edit menu and select the Links option towards the bottom (if this option is grayed out, then there are no real formula links) Click the Hyperlink button on the Insert tab of the Ribbon or press Alt+NI, or simply press Ctrl+K.To remove Phantom Links from a workbook, first check to make sure that there are not any non-phantom links in the file.
#How to remove hyperlink in excel office 365 update
If you have ever opened an Excel file and been prompted to update links to another file, yet you are certain that there are no links to any other files, your file may contain phantom links.