XL: Linked Cells Display #REF! Error with Dependent Workbook

• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel, opening a dependent document linked to a source document may return #REF! error values. When a source document is opened before the dependent document and the source file has been renamed, all cell links will return a #REF! error value.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

This is not the same functionality as in the earlier versions of Microsoft Excel; in earlier versions of Microsoft Excel, a Change Links dialog box is displayed regardless of which document is opened first. Microsoft Excel versions 5.0 and later view worksheets as documents within a workbook and does not display an alert message when a worksheet is not found.