A file opens, asks whether to update links to a workbook that was deleted two years ago, and nobody knows where the reference is. Finding it by eye is genuinely hard — it can hide in a formula on a sheet you never open, in a defined name, in a chart series, or in a conditional formatting rule. Edit Links lists every source in one place and will convert them to values, which removes the link and keeps the numbers. Do that on a copy: breaking a link is irreversible, and if the link was live you've just frozen figures that used to update.

1. 1Alt + A, K for Edit Links. Every external source is listed with its status.
2. 2**Break Link** converts those formulas to their current values — permanently.
3. 3If nothing is listed but the prompt persists, check defined names (Ctrl + F3) and chart series.

Press the shortcut to play it on a sample sheet.

• Silence the update prompt on an inherited file.
• Cut a model loose from a source file before sending it out.
• Find out what a workbook actually depends on before you rely on it.