Thanks so much for your responses, Dave. I know you are trying to be
helpful, and I appreciate the effort. But I have the feeling we are
not communicating very well, and the fault is probably mine.

So please allow me to start all over with hopefully a better
explanation. I will refer to the actions of Person A and Person B, and
I will refer to Workbooks 1, 2, etc. It would be helpful if
respondents use the same nomenature and dispense with the use of
pronouns as much as reasonable.

By the way, I am neither Person A nor B; I am merely a "referee".
Also, I do not have intimidate knowledge of the form and content of
Worksbook 1, 2 etc. So my ability to provide details is very limited.
Sorry. Please try to read between the lines.

The situation is this....

Person A maintains a set of Workbooks 1, 2 etc; that is, Person A
modifies the set of workbooks. And yes, these are individual
workbooks, each with many worksheets, not merely one workbook with many
(more) worksheets. Apparently, Workbook 1 has links to Workbooks 2, 3
etc. Periodically, Person A sends (just) Workbook 1 to Person B.
Workbook 1 is an attachment to the email; Person B uses a different
computer than Person A. Person B merely opens the email and saves and
prints Workbook 1; that is, Person B merely reads the data in Workbook
1. In fact, it is important that Person B not modify the data in
Workbook 1.

Obviously, Person A needs the "update link" feature in order to
maintain the set of workbooks properly. But as the feature is used
currently, this causes Person B to see the following prompt when
Workbook 1 is opened: "This workbook contains links to other data
sources. ... Update [button] ... Don't Update [button]".

Of course, Person B selects "don't update", since Person B does not
even have the linked data (other workbooks) at his disposal. But
Person B is annoyed by needing to do this. Person B wonders if the
prompt can be avoided when he opens Workbook 1.

Questions....

Is there a way to avoid the "update links?" prompt that Person B sees
in such a way that Excel will not attempt to the "update the links"
(i.e. retrieve the latest data)?

Ideally, is there something that Person B can do to avoid the prompt,
without impacting what Person A does?

Alternatively, is there something that Person A can do, persumably when
Workbook 1 is saved, to ensure that Person B will not see the prompt,
without impacting what Person B does?

Alternatively, are there things that Persons A and B must do separately
so that Person B will not see the prompt and Excel will not attempt to
"update the links"?

IMHO, it would be acceptable if Person A must save a copy of Workbook 1
-- call it Workbook 1 Copy -- in order to select the appropriate
option(s) so that Person B will not see an "update links?" prompt and
Excel will not attempt to "update the links".

But I want to reiterate that both Persons A and B are fairly
inexperienced Excel users, and both are set in their own ways. So any
solution must be "as simple as possible, but no simpler", as Einstein
once said, requiring the smallest possible changes to each person's
procedures.

Thanks again for any solution or pointers.