"We can't update some of the links in your workbook right now"

What you should do

Use Data > Edit Links in Excel to see exactly which external files are referenced and what their current status is. Each row shows the file path and whether the link is OK or broken. From there you have two real options:

1. Change source — if the file moved, point Excel to the new location. Excel will update all the formulas that referenced the old path.
2. Break the link — if the source file is gone for good, or if you received this file from someone else and you just want it to stop asking, breaking the link replaces the formula with the last value that was cached. The number stays; the connection to the other file goes away.

If "Break Link" is greyed out, the sheet is likely protected. You'll need to unprotect it first under Review > Unprotect Sheet.

Find and list all external links in your file

Not sure where the link is hiding, or want to see every external reference before you start making changes? Upload your file to the free tool at the top of this page — it reads the file without opening Excel, finds every external link (including ones buried in named ranges, charts, and conditional formatting rules that the formula search often misses), and gives you a plain list of exactly what's linked and where.

What exactly is happening

Excel workbooks can contain formulas that reference cells in a completely different file. Something like =[Budget2023.xlsx]Sheet1!B4. When you open the file, Excel automatically tries to load the latest values from that other file. If it can't find it — because the file was deleted, moved to a new folder, renamed, or lives on a network share that's currently unreachable — you get this message.

The error is specific. It's not saying your file is corrupt, and it's not a security warning. It's just telling you that at least one external reference came back with nothing, so the linked cells may be showing you an old cached number instead of a live one.

Why "some" and not all?

A single workbook can link to multiple external files. The word "some" means that at least one link failed, but others may have updated fine. Excel continues loading your file regardless — it just can't guarantee those particular cells have fresh values.

Three reasons this usually happens

• The source file was deleted or renamed. Someone cleaned up a shared drive and removed or renamed the file your spreadsheet was pulling from. The formula still has the old path baked in.
• The file moved to a new location. If your company migrated files to SharePoint, a new server, or even a different folder on the same machine, the path Excel has stored no longer leads anywhere.
• You received this file from someone else. The link points to a file that lives on their machine, not yours. You have no way to access it, and you never did.