I have a calc spreadsheet in which I made a link to an external file. I no longer need that link and cleared (deleted) the cell containing it. But I still get that message when I open the file! I have searched the entire file for “file” or “///” in formulas and can’t find any other cell that I might have created that has such a reference. (The file has about 10 sheets in it and is pretty big, so it’s not easy to search it manually.) I also tried “breaking” the link from the edit menu, but that did no good. Ideas anyone?
Make a copy of the file. Delete the sheets until the problem goes away. In this way you can probably pinpoint the problem faster.
I did that! I tried deleting (clearing) the contents of all spreadsheets and still got the message. See my answer below on what seems to be the underlying problem (track changes still remembers a link even if it’s been deleted and the delete accepted!)
I think I have found the problem, not that it gives an answer!
I have track changes turned on. Even though I have deleted the contents of the cell containing the link, the history of changes still contains the original link. Even if I try to “accept” the change for that one cell, the change history still remembers (records) that the original contents were rejected.
If I turn change tracking off, the “this file contains a link” message goes away, presumably because all change history goes away.
FYI, breaking the link doesn’t help, and I gather from what I’ve read elsewhere that doesn’t work for links that are of the kind =file///….
I haven’t been able to find any way to remove the tracking history for just one cell; presumably there might be one. (I may play around and come up with a simple, reproducible example, and submit it as a bug, although I guess it’s really a feature request.)
You may find some relevant information in this recent thread of a better structured forum on free office software.
I think you can break the links on Menu/Edit/Links to external data