How to Repair an Excel File DDE Link
DDE links are an older technology that allows Microsoft applications to grab data from other Microsoft applications, either on the local machine or over a network. When the location of an application changes, or when the network connection to a networked asset isn't up, the DDE link can report a failure. Spreadsheets with lots of DDE links can also report failures, because each link has to be checked individually and network latency can cause problems.
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Instructions
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1
Identify any existing links in your worksheet, by clicking on the "Data" tab, then clicking on the "Connections" icon to get a list of all the external links in the spreadsheet. This helps you identify where the potentially broken links are.
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2
Open the application that the link refers to; in most cases, if Excel cannot open the data file it's linking to, it uses a cached copy of the most recent data pulled. For Excel 2007 and 2010, there is a chance that the cells with DDE links will show up with "#N/A" while waiting for the data to update.
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3
Check the format of the DDE link; the standard format looks like this:
=MSACCESS|ANNUALREPORT!1Q2010
This particular link refers to Microsoft Access -- the first element -- is looking for the ANNUAL REPORT database, and is looking for the 1Q2010 field in that database.
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4
Make sure that the data field you're linking to still exists. For example, if the 1Q2010 report no longer exists in the ANNUAL REPORT database in Access, the link in Step 3 returns an error.
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Make sure that the program or network address for the DDE link remains the same. The most common DDE error is a "Remote data not accessible" error, which means that Excel cannot find the network address the application or data is supposed to reside at. If you're used to normal Excel links, it's the equivalent of the "workbook not found" error.
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