The easiest test is to remove all Validation and see if the link remains (you may want to make a copy of your file before performing this step).Links can exist as part of Data Validation criteria.Close and reopen the file to see if this has solved the problem (you may want to make a copy of your file before performing this step).Delete these objects and then save the file.On each worksheet, press the F5 key, click the “Special” button and select “Objects”.Links can exist in Object such as text boxes, auto shapes or drawing objects.If any of the charts is referring to cells in another file, change or delete the data references.Check the data ranges and x-axis labels for each chart to ensure that they are not referencing data in another file.If there are any charts in the file, the charts may be linked to cells in another Excel file.If any of these names is referring to cells in another file, change or delete the Name.Select each Name to see what is in the “Refers To” box.If you find a real link, change the file reference or delete the link.You can use the * wildcard character in your search.Search all tabs simultaneously by pressing Shift + Ctrl + Page Down and then running the search.Run a search (Ctrl + F) for the file that appears in the Edit Links menu.Go to the Edit menu and select the Links option towards the bottom (if this option is grayed out, then there are no real formula links).To remove Phantom Links from a workbook, first check to make sure that there are not any non-phantom links in the file.

If you have ever opened an Excel file and been prompted to update links to another file, yet you are certain that there are no links to any other files, your file may contain phantom links.

Disable links in excel 365