Excel 2007 : Working with external reference links

Hi all, thanks in advance for your help. This is an Excel 2007 question.

In Excel 97-2003, when I opened up the destination workbook (the workbook containing the links) I would get a popup message that required me to decide whether I wanted to update the linked data from the source workbook or not before I proceeded. The worksheet would not load until I made a decision.

I rather like that feature as it forced me to update links when I needed to update the workbook data (generally I forget to do this) but allowed me to bypass this operation when I didn't need an update and just wanted to work in the worksheet.

How can I create this type of alert in Excel 2007? I can't seem to generate any sort of popup alert, and I can't prevent the worksheet from loading without a decision - so unless I am vigilant, I can go merrily on my way oblivious to the fact that I forgot to update from the source file when I needed to do this.

I can generate Trust Bar notifications, but they are too subtle to really be a good reminder, and they don't prevent the worksheet from loading.

Has anyone obtained additional control over external link alert/warning notifications in Excel 2007?

Thanks kindly -- Rick

Hi.

Can someone help me please? I'm trying to use a cell value within an external link address.

For instance if I have a reference like 'C:\Docs\[January.xls]sheet1'!A1
and I want to replace the January.xls part for a value from a cell in the same workbook. I can make it work using the & command but it only works when the other workbook is open.

Is it possible or am I wasting my time?

Thanks,

Jon