Can't Purge Links

[bhujanga]

I have a workbook that gives me the spiel about it having external links and asking if I want to update them. I in fact want them gone as they should only point to places within the workbook.
So, I searched for all occurrences of ".xl" in the formulas. I found some and fixed them up and now the search yields no new finds suggesting it is fixed. Yet I still get the message when I open the file. So I decided I would track it down by cornering it. I made a copy of the workbook. I deleted half of the pages, saved it and reopened it. This tells me the link(s) are in the pages I deleted. So I did that again, deleting the other half instead, saved it and reopened it and again no message. So the link is evidently in neither half of the pages and no ".xl" strings are found in my search, yet when I open the entire workbook it tells me there are links.
Is there something I'm missing?

 

[combo]

You may have:
1) links in formulas: in "data" tabs "Edit Links" enabled, break links. You may have hidden or "very hidden" sheets with external references,
2) links to external data sources: in "data" tab check "Connections".

combo

 

[kjv1611]

I've got one where I work that's doing this, and it's somehow caused by a custom VBA function. Normally we just create a reference link via Tools-References via the VB Editor Window, but for some reason in a couple of the files (only one asks to update links), it's also created a link. If I remove the link, it removes formulas. I add them back, save the file, and it recreates the link.

In those cases, the link shows up under Data - "Edit Links" which is in the "Connections" section of the Data tab in the Excel 2016 ribbon. I had to move on to other items instead of trying to find a real final result, myself.

"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57

 

[bhujanga]

I never could track it down. I decided to take my chances and went ahead and broke the links. thanks for the input.