The Workbook Contains Links to One or More External Sources That may Be Unsafe – 3 Solutions

Solution 1 – Fix ‘This Workbook Contains Links to One or More External Sources That Could Be Unsafe’ Error with Automatic Update and No Message

The dataset contains 5 books, their available Quantity, and the total quantity. This workbook contains links to cells in other workbooks. If you open the workbook,  an error message will be displayed:

STEPS:

• Go to the File tab.

• Select Options.

• In ‘Excel Options’, go to Advanced.
• Uncheck ‘Ask to update automatic links’ in General.
• Click OK.

• Press Ctrl + S to save the file and close the workbook.

If you open the workbook, you will not see the error message.

Method 2 – Applying the Manual Update and No Message to Fix ‘This Workbook Contains Links to One or More External Sources That Could Be Unsafe’ Error

STEPS:

• Go to the Data tab.
• Select ‘Edit Links’ in ‘Queries & Connections’.

• In ‘Edit Links’, click ‘Start Prompt’.

• In ‘Startup Prompt’, check ‘Don’t display the alert and update links’.
• Click OK.

• Press Ctrl + S to save the workbook. Close it.

This is the output.

Read More: [Fixed!] ‘This workbook contains links to other data sources’ Error in Excel

Method 3 – Use the Find Option to Fix ‘This Workbook Contains Links to One or More External Sources That Could Be Unsafe’ Error

STEPS:

• Select a blank cell. Here, E7.

• Press Ctrl + F to open the ‘Find and Replace’ window.
• Enter [ in ‘Find What’.
• Click ‘Find Next’.

• You will see the cell that contains an external cell reference.

• Delete the cell value. This will delete all data in C5:C10, as references are used.

• Enter the previous values again manually.

• Press Ctrl + S to save the file and close the workbook.

This is the output.

Read More: [Fixed!] Excel Links Not Working Unless Source Workbook Is Open

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Related Articles

• Link Excel Workbooks for Automatic Update
• How to Link Two Workbooks in Excel
• Reference from Another Excel Workbook Without Opening

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