Excel for Mac crashes when changing workbook links

Question

Level 1

13 points

Excel for Mac crashes when changing workbook links

Recently, Excel has been crashing when trying to change the link in a workbook with another workbook.

Microsoft® Excel for Mac. Version 16.114 (26101123)

Mac mini 2024, M4, Memory: 32GB, macOS: Tahoe 26.6.2

At first I thought it happened because the workbooks were located in OneDrive. But I also tried the same procedure with files in the local drive, and Excel also crashed.

This is the process that I follow when Excel terminates.

Select Data,
Select Workbook links
Click on either the "wheel" on the upper right section of the box, or the 3 dots by the file

Below is a picture of where the termination occurs.

I'd appreciate any direction of what I can do to find out the source of the issue.

Mac mini, macOS 26.6

Posted on Oct 16, 2026 11:55 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

neuroanatomist

Level 9

70,201 points

Oct 16, 2026 12:39 PM in response to Julio M

The current version of macOS Tahoe is 26.7.1. Based on your post you are running an older version, so the first step is to update your Mac to the current version.

See: Update macOS on Mac - Apple Support

I can replicate the issue describe on my 16" M1 Pro MBP running macOS Tahoe 26.7.1 and Microsoft Excel 16.114 (to which I just updated). On that Mac, when it was running Microsoft Excel 16.113 when selecting linked data the behavior is as expected. Selecting the gear icon brings up the appropriate choices:

Selecting the ••• button does the same, and those choices are actionable:

However, after updating Excel to 16.114 and trying the same steps, Excel crashes.

The same thing occurs on my other Mac (16" M4 Pro MBP) that is running macOS Golden Gate 27.0.1.

The conclusion is that this is a bug in the current version of MS Excel and should be reported to Microsoft. In Excel, select Help menu > Feedback.

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Answer 2

MrHoffman

Level 10

167,445 points

Oct 16, 2026 12:04 PM in response to Julio M

Check for app updates from Microsoft. Remove any added VPNs and any added security apps. Test again.

Then for assistance with Microsoft Excel or other Microsoft apps, check with Microsoft Support. They have a support forum.

Alternatively, consider using LibreOffice or Apple Numbers.

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Answer 3

Julio M Author

Level 1

13 points

Oct 16, 2026 1:46 PM in response to Julio M

Thank you all for your quick replays, especially you "Neuroanatomist", for going above and beyond with your test and conclusions.

In parallel I was working with CoPilot to isolate the source of the issue:

My models
Created 2 new simple spreadsheets
My user setup
location of the files (web or local)
another mac