Sorry, another way would be to load all the files, the one with the
links and the linked ones. Then do not COPY the LINKED files to a new
location but SAVE them to a new location. That way Excel will adapt
your formulas on the sheet with the links. The old files will still be
at the original locations.

In my example I saved it to a folder "funfree" and this is what the
formula looks like afterwards:

='C:\funfree\[file1.xls]Sheet1'!$A$1

Seems to be the quickest way.

Hans