Where Excel hides a link
Edit Links shows some connections and misses others. The package stores them more literally. Relationship files under xl/externalLinks point at an external path, and the externalLink XML names the sheets in that other workbook. Defined names can also contain a path in brackets, and ordinary formulas can still say [Budget.xlsx]Sheet1!A1 long after you thought you broke the link. This checker reads those relationship targets and counts formulas that mention the file name.
What the result is telling you
Each row is a target path as stored, not a guess about whether that path exists on your computer. A target of C:\Reports\Budget.xlsx will fail for a colleague who never had that folder. A target that begins with a URL will fail offline. The formula-hit count is how many scanned formulas mention that file’s name. A count of zero does not prove the link is unused: a defined name or a chart can hold the only reference. Pair this page with the named-range auditor when Break Links does nothing and Edit Links is empty.
The repair steps live in the guide on how external link parts are stored.
Why Break Links fails
Break Links replaces formula references with values when Excel can see the link in its link list. It does not always see a name, a chart series, a conditional format, or an object. It also cannot break a link that is only a string inside a cell, and it should not: that string is text. If this page shows a target and Excel’s dialog does not, the leftover is usually a name or a part Excel’s dialog skips. Delete or rewrite that name in Name Manager, then save and check again.
Paths are not uploads
The path is read from your file in the browser. It is not requested, not fetched, and not checked for existence. A missing file and a present file look the same here. That is deliberate. Existence is your machine’s question. The audit question is whether the workbook still contains the pointer.
Other external relationships
OLE objects embedded from another package are included when the relationship type says so. Ordinary web hyperlinks on cells are not treated as workbook links, because Data, Edit Links is about workbooks and objects, not about a URL in a cell. If you need hyperlinks, Excel’s hyperlink list is the right tool. This page stays on links that can change values or block a clean save. When the target is a file you still use, update the path in Edit Links or in Name Manager rather than breaking it. When the target is a file nobody has, break or rewrite the reference on a copy and confirm the values that remain.