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Full paths in Excel workbooks: where links, names and pivot sources keep user names and share names

Last updated: 17 October 2026

Short answer: a workbook can hold paths such as C:\Users\user name\… or \\server\share\… in several places: links to other workbooks (in cells, defined names, charts and shapes), the source of a pivot table, hyperlinks to files, data connections, and the folder the workbook was saved in. Most of these are kept apart from the author and company, so clearing the properties under File › Info leaves them in the file.

The steps for breaking links to other workbooks are also in removing personal information from an Excel file (step 4). This page follows the paths themselves: the common places they are kept, and what goes with them when you take them out.

Properties and paths are kept in different places

An .xlsx file is a ZIP of separate parts. The author and last saved by are in docProps/core.xml, the company in docProps/app.xml: these are the document properties that File › Info shows. Paths are kept in other parts. A link to another workbook has its own part in xl/externalLinks, a hyperlink to a file is a relationship of the worksheet that holds it, and a data connection is in xl/connections.xml. The part and attribute names come from the published specification of the format, ECMA-376, and Microsoft's [MS-XLSX] page on absPath.

So clearing the author leaves the paths, and breaking the links leaves the author. A path often carries as much as the author field does: a user name, a department, or a share named after a client.

1. Links to other workbooks: cells, names, charts and shapes

A formula that reads another workbook stores that workbook's location, and Microsoft's Document Inspector page adds that "The names of the worksheets that contain the data are saved with your workbook but it isn't visible there." The same page lists where such external references are used: "Worksheet cells", "Names", "Objects, such as text boxes or shapes", "Chart titles" and "Chart data series".

Microsoft's page Manage workbook links says "There is no automatic way to find all workbook links in a workbook", and gives a place to look for each kind:

To take the links out, open Data › Queries and Connections › Workbook Links and break them (the steps for Windows and the web are in step 4 of the Excel article). Breaking a link converts "all formulas that use the value in the source workbook" to "their current values", and in the desktop app "this action cannot be undone". Work on a copy. A name that pointed at the other workbook still exists after its link is broken; delete it in the Name Manager if the recipient does not need it.

2. The source of a pivot table

A pivot table built on a range in another workbook, or on an external data source, records where that source is. Microsoft's page Change the source data for a PivotTable shows it with Change Data Source on the PivotTable Analyze tab (Options in older versions), and describes choosing an external source through a connection: a connection already in the workbook is reused, and one chosen from a connection file on your computer or network is copied into the workbook. In the file, the pivot cache names its source: a sheet and range with a relationship to the other workbook, or the id of a data connection (ECMA-376 Part 1, the pivot cache's cacheSource).

The pivot cache can also hold a copy of the source records, and the name of the person who last refreshed it. If the recipient needs the figures and not the pivot table, paste the table as values into a new workbook; finding hidden data in Excel explains the cache.

3. Hyperlinks to files

A hyperlink in a cell or on a shape can point at a file or folder as well as a web page. Microsoft's page Work with links in Excel covers both, and explains relative links, whose target depends on where the workbook is kept. To turn a link off and keep its text, right-click the cell and choose Remove Hyperlink. A link made with the HYPERLINK function keeps its path in the formula, or in a cell or name the formula reads (Microsoft's HYPERLINK function page has an example that reads a cell): edit the formula or replace it with its value, and check what it reads.

4. Data connections

A table that takes data from another workbook or a database keeps the connection in the workbook. Microsoft's page Create, edit, and manage connections to external data describes a connection as the information that says how to find, log in to, query and reach the data source, and that includes the source file's path or a server's name. Connections are listed in Data › Queries & Connections, on the Connections tab; right-click one for its commands. The same page says removing a connection does not remove any object or data from the workbook, and that it breaks the connection to the data source and can change formula results. Work on a copy.

5. The saved-in folder, the printer and web publishing paths

Microsoft's Document Inspector page lists, under Excel's Document Properties and Personal Information, "Printer path information", "File path for publishing Web pages" and "Inactive external data connections", and the document location, about which it says "the existing document location is cleaned up from the file. The document location won't be added back to the file while saving until you close Excel and reopen the file again." Reopen and save, and the folder is written again: check the copy you are about to send. In Excel for Windows, File › Info › Check for Issues › Inspect Document removes these with the properties. Run it on a copy.

What Document Inspector leaves

The same page puts external links among the items Document Inspector finds but can't remove, "because it might cause the workbook to not work properly", and hidden names in the same list. Hyperlinks to files, and connections that are in use, are not among its items at all. Take those out with the steps above.

How to check the copy yourself

  1. Make a copy of the .xlsx, rename it to .zip, and open it.
  2. In xl/externalLinks/_rels, each file's Target= is the path of a linked workbook.
  3. In xl/worksheets/_rels, look for TargetMode="External": these are hyperlink targets (links on shapes are in xl/drawings/_rels). One that starts with file:, a drive letter such as C:\, or \\ points at a file. A relative path such as ../ can too; where it lands depends on where the workbook is, so check each one.
  4. In xl/workbook.xml, read the formula of each definedName for an external reference with a workbook number such as [1], which can also sit inside a function or after a quote mark: that number is a link to another workbook. Look for absPath as well, which can hold the saved-in folder.
  5. If there is xl/connections.xml, it holds the data connections; files in xl/pivotCache hold the pivot sources.

These are the common places, not all of them. A path can also be written into a formula, so search the formulas for .xl, \\ and C:\Users as well, as Microsoft's workbook links page suggests for .xl. Finding nothing does not show there is nothing.

What ScrubDrop does with these paths

ScrubDrop reads the workbook in your browser; it is not uploaded. It lists links to other workbooks, links to files (including HYPERLINK formulas), data connections, defined names and pivot caches, each apart from the properties; the saved-in folder is listed as one of the properties. Listing is free.

The free version removes the document properties, including the saved-in folder, the web publishing path and the name of whoever last refreshed a pivot cache, and the comments, one file at a time. Removing links to other workbooks and files, data connections, defined names and pivot tables is part of ScrubDrop Pro. A cell whose link is removed keeps the value or text it showed, but once links, names or hidden sheets are removed every formula on the sheets that stay becomes its last saved value and the workbook no longer recalculates; a formula with no saved value makes the file refused. A table filled from a connection being removed is refused too, with a sentence saying what to change first. Printer settings are never written to the new file. The result is read again by software separate from the one that wrote it, and a file that does not pass is not offered.

A path typed into a cell as text ("Saved in \\…") is content, and ScrubDrop does not judge content. The file name is kept as it is. Open the result and look before you send it.

Questions

If I clear the author and other properties, do the paths go too?

Not all of them. The author, last saved by and company are document properties, but the paths of links to other workbooks, hyperlinks to files and data connections are kept in other parts of the workbook. Clearing the properties under File, Info leaves those paths where they are.

Does breaking a link change my formulas?

Yes. Microsoft's page on workbook links says that when you break a link, all formulas that use the value in the source workbook are converted to their current values. In the desktop app it cannot be undone, so work on a copy.

Does deleting a data connection delete the table's data?

No. Microsoft's page on connections says removing one does not remove any object or data from the workbook, but it breaks the connection to the data source and may change formula results. Work on a copy.

Sources: the Microsoft pages linked on this page were checked on 17 October 2026.

Check the links and paths ScrubDrop finds before you send the workbook, in your browser. Free: one file at a time; every kind of hidden data is listed, and properties and comments are removed. Check a file.