Hi Dave,

Was the source file created by another app (eg Access)? If so, read:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/824172/en-us
which says you need to open all the linked Excel workbooks before you open the workbook that contains the links.

Cheers

--
macropod
[MVP - Microsoft Word]


"Dave" wrote in message oups.com...
| Hi macropod
|
| Thanks for your reply - sorry, that was a typo (too many 3:00AM
| sessions lately) - that paragraph should have read:
|
| "When I link a new workbook (target) to one of these files (source),
| the link works until I close the SOURCE file. Then, if I try to
| update the link (EditLinksUpdate Now) I get an "Unable to read file"
| message. "
|
| And yet, the complete path and file name show up correctly in the
| formula bar (of the target).
|
| And oddly enough, if I open the SOURCE file, and then save and close
| it, everything is as it should be. The size of the SOURCE file grows
| from 11k to 19k, so something has changed here. And I know that this
| sounds like an obvious solution, but the client has over 100 of these
| files, and they're being updated regularly by Access over a network -
| so I'm a bit hesitant to make unnecessary changes to these files.
| That will be my 'last resort' strategy.
|
| I've work with linking files quite frequently, and I've never
| encountered this problem before. Again, any insight into this will be
| greatly appreciated.
|
| Regards
|
| DaveU
|
|
| On Feb 2, 8:28 pm, "macropod" wrote:
| Hi Dave,
|
| Sorry, you can't do that ...
|
| If your new workbook is closed without ever being saved, then there's nothing left for the other one to link to. Hence the
error.
|
| Cheers
|
| --
| macropod
| [MVP - Microsoft Word]
|
| "Dave" wrote in oglegroups.com...
|
| | Hello everyone
| |
| | I posted this question a few days ago and got no response - I'm hoping
| | this will be a clearer explanation.
| |
| | I client has presented me with a number of Excel files that he wants
| | linked to a master spreadsheet. These are all *.xls files, and are
| | about 11k in size, and are updated periodically from Access.
| |
| | When I link a new workbook (target) to one of these files (source),
| | the link works until I close the target. Then, if I try to update the
| | link (EditLinksUpdate Now) I get an "Unable to read file" message.
| |
| | If I save the target, the file size jumps from 11k to 19k, and the
| | links work perfectly. At first I thought this might be a version
| | issue, but running Activeworkbook.Fileformat in VBA on the original
| | file comes back with -4143 (Excel 97/2000). I'm running Excel 97, so
| | I tried it on a friend's system with Excel 2003, got the same
| | results.
| |
| | I'm running out of ideas, any insight into this would be greatly
| | appreciated.
| |
| | Regards,
| |
| | DaveU
| |
|
|