Recovering Broken Links in a Workday OfficeConnect PowerPoint Deck

When a Workday OfficeConnect PowerPoint link breaks — file moved, named range renamed, workbook deleted — here are the fix paths in order of cost.
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A linked PowerPoint deck breaks the first time someone moves the source Excel workbook, renames a named range, or saves a copy under a new filename without updating the deck. This article documents how to recognize a broken link and the cheapest fix.

If you’re new to linked decks, start with OfficeConnect for PowerPoint.

When you open a deck whose source file can’t be found, PowerPoint shows one of these symptoms:

  • A dialog at open: “This presentation contains links to other files. Update links?” (PowerPoint can’t find the linked workbook)
  • Linked tables show their last-cached values but won’t refresh
  • Linked charts show as static images with no live data
  • Refresh Links returns errors slide-by-slide
  • A red error indicator appears on the affected slide thumbnail

Diagnose first — what’s actually broken?

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Open File → Info → Edit Links to Files PowerPoint shows every external link with its source file path and status.
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Identify the failure category

Common categories:

  • Source file moved or renamed — the path PowerPoint expects no longer exists
  • Named range removed from Excel — the link target inside the workbook is gone
  • Workbook on SharePoint, sync broken — the file exists but the local sync path can’t reach it
  • Workbook permissions changed — the file exists but the user lacks read access
  • Workbook upgraded to a new format — sometimes happens when an older .xls is converted

Fix 1 — Source file moved or renamed (most common)

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Find the new file location Locate the workbook in its new location (Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive, or a different folder).
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In the OfficeConnect ribbon, click Manage Links The Manage Links dialog opens with every linked element listed.
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Select the links to repoint and click Change Source Select all (or a subset) of broken links and click Change Source. Browse to the new file location and select it.
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Confirm and refresh PowerPoint reconnects the selected links to the new file path. Click Refresh Links to pull current data through the new path.

Fix 2 — Named range removed or renamed in Excel

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Open the source workbook Open the Excel workbook and go to Formulas → Name Manager. Look for the named range PowerPoint expects.
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Re-create or rename the missing range If the range was deleted, re-create it pointing to the original cells. If it was renamed, the simplest fix is to rename it back to the original name. Save the workbook.
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In PowerPoint, Refresh Links With the named range restored, Refresh Links in PowerPoint should now succeed.

If you can’t rename back (the new name is in use elsewhere), use Manage Links → Change Source as in Fix 1, pointing to the same workbook but the new named range.

Fix 3 — SharePoint or OneDrive sync issue

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Verify the file is reachable in a browser Open the file in SharePoint or OneDrive web. If you can see it there, the file exists.
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Sync the parent folder locally In your File Explorer, navigate to the file. If it shows a sync-pending or sync-error icon, right-click the folder and trigger sync.
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Repoint to the local synced path Once the file is locally available, use Manage Links → Change Source to repoint to the local synced path. PowerPoint generally prefers local paths over remote URLs.

Fix 4 — Workbook permissions changed

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Request read access from the file owner If the source workbook moved to a folder you don’t have access to, request Read permission. View-only is enough; you don’t need edit.

Last resort — break the link and re-link

If a link is truly unrecoverable and you have an alternate source:

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Manage Links → Break Link Select the broken link and click Break Link. The linked element becomes a static object on the slide.
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Insert a new link On the same slide, use OfficeConnect → Link from Excel to insert a new linked element from the available source workbook.
  • Use consistent file paths. Decide where source workbooks live (e.g., \\Teams\Finance\Reports\) and don’t move them mid-cycle.
  • Use stable named-range names. Once you’ve named a range BP_PL_Summary, don’t rename it next month.
  • Avoid renaming or moving source workbooks during a board cycle. Wait until next cycle for any file reorganization.
  • For shared decks, store the source workbook alongside the deck. Easier for anyone refreshing to find both files.
  • Pin a “source location” note in slide 1 speaker notes. Future-you (and anyone inheriting the deck) will thank you.

Result

You can recover from any link breakage in a few minutes instead of rebuilding the deck. And the prevention practices keep most breakages from happening at all.

Next steps

Last modified May 19, 2026: Rename 'Get Started' section to 'Wiki' site-wide (6ebea16d)