How to Break Links in Excel

Written by Darlene Antonelli, MA

Last Updated: May 31, 2020

If you've linked data from other worksheets in the same project or other spreadsheets in different file, but have since changed that information, this wikiHow will teach you how to break those links in Excel using a desktop computer. Which is useful if you've added links that you no longer want to keep active.

Steps

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1
Open your document in Excel. You can either open your project within Excel by going to File > Open or you can right-click the Excel file in your file browser.
- This method works for Excel for Microsoft 365 and Excel 2019-2007 (Mac and Windows).
You'll see this above the document editing space with Home, Formulas, and View.

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3
Click Edit Links. You'll find this in the "Queries & Connections" grouping.
- If you don't see this button, the Excel sheet you're working on does not have any active links.
4
Click the link you want to break. You'll see a list of links that are active in your spreadsheet, single-clicking one will highlight it.
- If you want to select more than one link from the list, hold the CTRL (Windows) or CMD (Mac) key.
- If you want to select all the links, press CTRL + A (Windows) or CMD + A (Mac).
You'll need to confirm that you want to break the link to continue.^{[1]
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