# Links from Word to Excel error message: "This Object is corrupt or is no longer available"



## Zacharias (Jul 22, 2014)

Everyone seems to think this is a Norton problem - I do not have Norton or the OfficeAv.dll file. 

I have pasted cells from a worksheet into work using paste special... > unformatted text & paste as link. This has worked countless times in the past for me. For some reason I am no longer able to right click a link and edit/update it; the link appears to be an object. when I click "Object" i get the error message above. No file paths have been changed. I re-copied several of the cells over and left my computer for 10 mins to go get coffee and they were corrupt/unavailable objects when I got back. 

Little hope for this one - seen a lot of unanswered posts elsewhere but I thought I'd try here too.


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## Macropod (Jul 22, 2014)

If you have posted questions about this issue elsewhere, that's called cross-posting. For cross-posting etiquette, please read: Excelguru Help Site - A message to forum cross posters, then post the relevant links between all sites concerned.

Have you tried repairing the Office installation (via Programs & Features > Microsoft Office > Change in the Windows Control Panel)?


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## Zacharias (Jul 23, 2014)

Haven't posted anywhere else; I was just referring to similar posts i found searching other forums. Thanks for your concern. I will try that (as soon as I can get admin privileges on my pc) and post here if it works.


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## Macropod (Jul 23, 2014)

You don't need Admin privileges to do a repair.


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## Zacharias (Aug 13, 2014)

The repair did not fix that particular document - but I haven't had a problem since. So I'm not sure if it fixed the problem or not but all's well. Thanks for the help.


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## merce333 (Mar 15, 2017)

Hi Paul. I don't know if resurrecting such an old post is correct etiquette, but I am having this same issue as described by Zacharias. I did a Repair to my MS Office 2010 and then rebooted the system, but had no luck. Are there any other potential solutions?
One peculiarity is that if I Update the "corrupt" link, it is no longer corrupt and then works absolutely fine.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated, thank you!


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## Macropod (Mar 15, 2017)

Repairing Office won't of itself fix the link error message but it may correct the fault that's causing it. Subsequently updating the link (as both you and Zacharias apparently did) will then clear the error message and display the link correctly.


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## merce333 (Mar 16, 2017)

Macropod!! Nice to virtually meet you, you're forum royalty! I've been combing the forums for the past month, and a sincere thank you for teaching me Word VBA (along with Allen Wyatt and Beth Melton)!
I've put in over 12 hours now trying to solve this pesky problem the past 2 days, but is not going away. 
The 150+ links to Excel, which are built with code from a .dotm template in Word, work beautifully when the macro is run. They only become corrupted after having saved & then reopened the file.
It happens every time with one excel file, but with another it doesn't seem to be an issue.  
I have never had Norton, and I do not have "OFFICEAV.DLL", even having searched for hidden files/folders.
I repaired office successfully & rebooted the computer, but the issue persists.
A not-so-good workaround is when I include Document_Open()   >  ThisDocument.Fields.Update    then all links will always work, but since I have 150+ links, this update takes almost 60 seconds.
One final peculiarity is this; when I initially build the links, Word's Link Manager form displays the following for some links:
Source file:   C:\Path\FileName.xlsm
Item in File:  TabName!NamedRange
Link type:     Microsoft Excel Macro-Enabled Worksheet

BUT, after saving, closing, and reopening the file, that same link now looks like this:
Source file:   C:\Path\FileName.xlsm!TabName!NamedRange
Item in File:  
Link type:     Microsoft Excel Macro-Enabled Worksheet 

Why has Word taken the "artistic liberty" of changing the syntax of my link and, apparently, rendering it corrupt?  Yet, after updating the link, the syntax goes back to normal and the link works!
Again, any insights would be immensely appreciated!


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## Macropod (Mar 16, 2017)

merce333 said:


> One final peculiarity is this; when I initially build the links, Word's Link Manager form displays the following for some links:
> Source file:   C:\Path\FileName.xlsm
> Item in File:  TabName!NamedRange
> Link type:     Microsoft Excel Macro-Enabled Worksheet
> ...


I have seen that problem in the past, but no satisfactory explanation for its occurrence has been forthcoming. Conflicts with buggy AV software and/or a faulty 3rd-part addin is one possible explanation. Hence the references to Norton. Rogue Bluetooth driver have been notorious for their interference with Office, too. ISTR the problem mainly occurred with Office 2007 and any documents with links created in that version were susceptible to it, perhaps even when opened on a later version. And, if you're using a template with links created on Office 2007, the potential problem would carry over to any new documents created from that template. Of course, all of that may have only been a timing issue re buggy AV software and/or a faulty 3rd-part addin and Office was not itself to blame.

That said, one way of resolving the problem (using a version of Office later than 2007, of course) may be to treat the document/template as if it were corrupt. Corrupt documents can often be 'repaired' by inserting a new, empty, paragraph at the very end, copying everything except that new paragraph to a new document based on the same template (headers & footers may need to be copied separately), closing the old document and saving the new one over it. Templates would be handled the same way, except that you'd base the new one on a 'Normal' template not created on Office 2007.


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## merce333 (Mar 16, 2017)

Thanks, Paul, I will try this asap.
I failed to mention, I am running MS Word 2010 and Excel 2010.
I was frustrated to the point of making a new version of the file where all link code uses DOCVARs instead of actual links to excel text. The update process is just a bit more complex, but this method seems more stable, and the code runs just as fast. Unfortunately, linked tables are still suffering the same issue.
Hopefully the new template idea you described will solve the final piece with the linked tables.
Enjoy your weekend!


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