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Linked workbooks in Excel

I have created an Excel workbook that is linked to 10 other workbooks in the same Team. They are all saved within the Team's filing structure. When one of the linked books is opened, an error stating 'Links Disabled: Links to external workbooks are not supported and have been disabled.'
I am trying to encourage my workplace to move over to using Teams as our primary file sharing platform, but this is a major issue and will halt that progress.

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Jillian Rose shared this idea  ·   ·  Flag idea as inappropriate…  ·  Admin →

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  • Daniel Vinova commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    I can't believe this was first flagged as an issue two and a half years ago. People have been saying it is vital functionality for them the entire time and it's still not implemented. Poor show.

  • JA commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    I discovered that you can setup a query from one spreadsheet to another (on Teams) by editing the spreadsheet in the Desktop App. You need to synchronize the workspace from Sharepoint to your Microsoft One Drive first, so you can choose the file you want to link to from File Explorer.

    Then, use the Data > Add Data > From File option to add the data, follow the prompts.

    finally, Save and Update the spreadsheet (which now has an active query) and close it.

    Any time you need to refresh the query, edit the file again in Desktop and refresh the query. Then syncronize and close it.

    It may not be perfect, but it's the workaround I will use until Microsoft adds this functionality to online versions & teams.

    ~JA

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    I am also facing the same error and struggling to get an auto-update of data on the excel sheet. Microsoft should provide some solution to this

  • Hai commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Simple. Office 365, SharePoint, Teams are not file systems. Do not expect file to file linking to work.

    It is one of the hundreds of limitations of the downgraded Excel online experience versus Excel on a desktop.

    We have encountered dozens of blocking problems when using Excel online versus Excel on a desktop.

    We use Excel online for only reading the most basic of spreadsheets. Everything else is done on a Excel for the desktop.

    In other areas, there would be a large yellow warning "This film has been modified to fit the screen size and edited for content" yet in software, the vendor gets away with substandard limited product and sells it as a 100% replacement for the existing Excel for the desktop.

  • Fred commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Hi Team,

    We are migrating our files from on premises to SharePoint, but we discovered this critical functionality missing from Excel Online. could you please advise when this functionality be available

  • IT Manager commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Urgently needed. Our company was about to abandon GSuite and migrate to O365 Sharepoint, but when we discovered this critical functionality missing from Excel Online, I cancelled the project. Extra $$$$ of revenue for Google that MS missed out on capturing...

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    We are in the same boat. We have encountered so many limitations with Excel workbooks/sheets stored in Sharepoint/Teams that we had to move back to Google apps/Sheets. The lack of workbook-workbook link functionality in the online system is the biggest issue we have encountered with sharepoint/Teams Excel workbooks though. Workbook linking is a critical requirement for us and it is unfortunate that we cannot utilize the teams/sharepoint environment that our company invested heavily in at this time.

  • Alan R commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    I have deeply embedded hierarchical file structure on our server with excel workbooks linking together throughout that hierarchy. They are complex in their nature having been crafted over many years. I am so glad that I tested out the migration of these files from the outset before I even considered a migration to Sharepoint and the cloud. The hierarchical linked file functionality that makes desktop excel so useful will not work as migrated into Sharepoint. Possibly you may be able to rewrite them but I don't have the time to reinvent the wheel.

  • Jim commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Seriously regretting our company's move from Google to Microsoft. It's already insane that I have to switch between web versions and desktop versions based on what I want to get done. It's ludicrous that you can easily link workbooks "offline" but have absolutely no options for online shared files.

  • FELix commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Когда будут работать ссылки на внешние книги?

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Agreed, this would be absolutely required for simplification on excel managed document and is a greatly required feature.

  • [Deleted User] commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Good Day, I'm in the same boat. MS Teams is the answer fro the future, but we need more rapid enhancements, like the link to files and ODBC connections.

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