Link to external file in LO Calc returns incorrect data

Hello,

I’ve built a workbook to track membership data for a women’s club. There is a workbook for each month the club meets. One section of the workbook takes the number of members at the end of the previous month, adds members who join in the current month, and subtracts members who’ve either resigned or died in the current month to obtain the number of members in the club at the end of the current month. For a given month, the number of members at the end of the previous month is obtained via a reference to the cell containing this data in the previous month’s workbook.

The problem I’m having is that sometimes this external reference returns correct data, and sometimes it returns incorrect data, and I have no idea why. I’ve tried to be very careful to define the external references correctly, but perhaps I’ve made an error.

I’ve attached five small .ods files containing excerpts from workbooks for Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec, and Jan. These files are all saved in the same directory on my Windows 10 computer. I’m running LO 6.2.5.2. If I open the Oct workbook, it correctly links to the end of month data for Sept, and similarly for Nov and Dec. However, when I open the Jan workbook, the link returns 0 as the number of members at the end of December, which is incorrect. If I open the Dec workbook, save it, keep it open, then open the Jan workbook and “update” the link, I get correct data for Jan. Then if I save and close both workbooks and later come back and open Jan, the link returns 0 again, or sometimes it returns correct data.

Thanks for any help.

Sep 2019 Sign-In Sheet.ods
Oct 2019 Sign-In Sheet.ods
Nov 2019 Sign-In Sheet.ods
Dec 2019 Sign-In Sheet.ods
Jan 2020 Sign-In Sheet.ods

(Edit: small format improvement -AK)

Please file a bug report, Feedback | LibreOffice - Free Office Suite - Based on OpenOffice - Compatible with Microsoft, add to it your sample files and add to your question the report number.

Report number 131100 created today. Thank you.

Hi,
I had problems with links to external files after version 6.1.5.0, however recently I downloaded the LO pre-release version 6.4. RC3 (windows 10 64 bit). and so far the links I have tried seem to be working OK.
This is the link
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/QA/GetInvolved#Test_Pre-releases

If you try it, let us know if it helps.

Thank you for the suggestion. I installed 6.4 RC3 and opened a file that did not link properly under 6.2.5.2. It did not link properly to 6.4, either. It returned the same (zero) value.

Here is some more detail, in case it’s helpful. I have a file for April data. This file gets the number of members at the end of March from the March file. When I open the April file, the number of members at the end of March is returned as zero. When I open the March file, that value is 160.

With the March file opened, I saved it to ensure that the 160 value was saved. Then, with both the March and April files open, I updated the relevant link in the April file, and the correct number, 160, was returned. I saved the April file and, for good measure, I saved the March file again. Then I closed both files. After closing both files, I opened the April file and the value in question was zero.

Interestingly, perhaps, the March and February files link correctly.

I suspect the problem relates to the cascaded nature of the linkages in which the value in the source cell is, through a formula, dependent on an analogous link to the previous month, etc., through several months. I say this because I have numerous other data links in these workbooks that “usually” work, and if they don’t, updating them via Edit > Links to External Files will correct them. Updating does not fix this problem.

I mention this in case it helps diagnose the problem.