I guess that someone has emailed to you a file which has formula links
to other files in the same folder (or a sub-folder). These are held as
relative links.

When you open the attachment in Outlook it is copied to a temporary
folder on your machine and, at least if you say you want to update
links, it will look in the same relative location for the linked files
(ie the temporary folder or a sub-folder with the same particular
name).

A better strategy is to have the file emailed with its supporting files
in a zip file, and extract them all to a folder of your choice before
opening them. Or have the sender replace formulas with values so there
are no links to worry about

Bill Manville
MVP - Microsoft Excel, Oxford, England
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