Microsoft KB Archive/104440

= DDE Links to Microsoft Access Not Updated Automatically =

Article ID: 104440

Article Last Modified on 8/15/2003

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Access 1.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Access 1.1 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Access 2.0 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q104440



SYMPTOMS
In Microsoft Excel, when you use dynamic data exchange (DDE) to import Microsoft Access 1.x or 2.0 data, the DDE links are not updated when you make changes to the source data.



CAUSE
This situation occurs because the versions of Microsoft Access listed above do not support hot links.

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel.



WORKAROUND
To update a Microsoft Access link, do the following:


 * 1) In the Microsoft Excel document that you want to update, click Links on the Edit menu. (Click Links on the File menu in versions 4.0 and earlier.)
 * 2) In the Links list box, select the link or links to be updated.
 * 3) Click Update.

NOTE: Your data will change to #N/A until you complete step 4.
 * 1) Click Close.

The Microsoft Access data will update correctly assuming that Microsoft Access is installed on your computer and the directory where Microsoft Access is located is included in the PATH statement of your Autoexec.bat file.



MORE INFORMATION
The easiest way to use DDE is to create a paste link between Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel. To do this, use the following steps:


 * 1) In the Microsoft Access Database window, highlight the table you want to link to Microsoft Excel.
 * 2) In Microsoft Access, click Copy on the Edit menu.
 * 3) In Microsoft Excel versions 5.0, 7.0 and 97, on the Edit menu, click Paste Special, then select Paste Link. (In Microsoft Excel version 4.0 and earlier, on the Edit menu, click Paste Link.) The formula resulting from the Paste Link command should look like this:

{=MSAccess|'NWIND.MDB;Table !All}

where  is the name of the table you copied.

NOTE: Microsoft Excel cannot read the default Access .MDB file format directly.

