How to Locate and Remove Stubborn External Link?

[Jakepr26]

I cannot upload an example workbook at this time, as I am unsure how to duplicate the problem.

Workbook A and Workbook B should not have any external links whatsoever. Data dumps, manually entered data, and formulas make up all the information in Workbook A, a new version is saved everyday. Workbook B has data copied in from Workbook A as Values, some of this data are used in formulas with static lookup tables.

After a recent daily update of Workbook B, an external link was created to that day's version of Workbook A. I have searched for [,[*], and .xl for the workbook and in the formulas. I did this manually with the specific data copied in. Everything looked normal.

The entire workbook has no conditional formatting, and I have narrowed the link down to be in this one sheet. However, that is where my confusion greatly increases. If I delete all rows and columns, the link remains until I save and close. There are two columns using Data Validation, which has been verified to be correct and accurate. All other columns have been checked for Data Validations, none found.

Break Link prompts the warning popup, but selecting OK does nothing. Changing the Source functions correctly all the way through, but no change is carried through.

It almost seems like a situation where a reference is deleted from the end of the cascade, not the top, resulting in lingering references to nothing.

Any ideas how I can remove this external link for good?

[FDibbins]

Are there perhaps any named ranges that got carried over?

[Jakepr26]

We do not use Named Ranges. I opened the Go To menu, saw Print Area was listed, cleared the Print Area. Now random cells and 2 cell ranges are showing in this Menu, but all cell references are from within the sheet. The link appears to still be in tact.

[FDibbins]

If you can see what the link is/says, try copy, then do a search for that.