XL5: "Linked Document Is Unavailable" Editing Linked Chart

• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c

SYMPTOMS

When you edit a linked Microsoft Excel version 4.0 chart object in an object linking and embedding (OLE) version 1.0 application (the client), one of the following may occur:

• In Microsoft Write, you receive the following error message:

        Linked document is unavailable
  

  -or-

• In Microsoft Word for Windows version 2.0, the chart object does not open for editing.

CAUSE

When you link a Microsoft Excel version 4.0 chart in an OLE version 1.0 application, if you then save the chart in the Microsoft Excel version 5.0 format, the link to the chart object is broken, and you can no longer edit or update the linked chart object in the client application.

This problem occurs if you do either of the following:

• Double-click the linked chart object in the client application with Microsoft Excel version 5.0 installed on your computer. The linked chart file opens in Microsoft Excel version 5.0 if you installed Microsoft Excel 5.0 after you installed Microsoft Excel 4.0. When you close the linked file, you save the chart file to the Microsoft Excel version 5.0 chart format.

  -or-

• Open the chart file using the File menu in Microsoft Excel and then you save the file to the Microsoft Excel version 5.0 file format.

WORKAROUND

To avoid this problem and maintain links to chart objects in an OLE version 1.0 client, save the linked chart object to the Microsoft Excel version 4.0 chart file format when you make changes to the file.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was corrected in Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, version 7.0.

MORE INFORMATION

When you update a linked Microsoft Excel version 4.0 chart object in Microsoft Write, when the linked chart has been saved to the Microsoft Excel version 5.0 chart format, the following error message appears:

   The source document cannot be found.

   Make sure that the object still exists in the source document, the
   link has not been corrupted or the source document has not been
   deleted, moved, or renamed.