Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Updating Document Links.

Updating Document Links

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 14, 2024)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365

Normally, if you have linked information in your document, the information is updated whenever you open the document. There may be times when you need to update the links manually, however. You do this by following these steps:

Display the File tab of the ribbon.
Click Info at the left of the screen. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. Info about the current document.

Click Edit Links to Files. (This link can be just about anywhere on the screen; in the latest versions of Word it should be near the bottom-right corner of the screen.) Word displays the Links dialog box. (See Figure 2.)

Figure 2. The Links dialog box.

Select the link you want to update.
Click on Update Now.

Note, in step 3, that if you cannot find the Edit Links to Files option, that simply means that Word doesn't think there are any links in the current document.

If you are using Word 2007, then the steps are slightly different:

Click the Office button and then click Prepare.
Click Edit Links to Files. (Again, if this option is not available, it means that Word doesn't think there are any links in the current document.) Word displays the Links dialog box.
Select the link you want to update.
Click on Update Now.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (11517) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Updating Document Links.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Copying Comments to Cells

Need to copy whatever is in a comment into a cell on your worksheet? If you have lots of comments, manually doing this ...

Discover More

Keeping the Flash Drive Occupied

Working on a document stored on a flash drive can have some unintended consequences. Here's some help in understanding ...

Discover More

Copying Fill Color in a Table

You may spend some time getting the color in a portion of a table just right, only to be faced with the task of copying ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2013. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word 2013 Step by Step today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Turning Off Hyphenation for Individual Words

Word does a semi-decent job when it comes to automatically hyphenating your documents. It even lets you exclude certain ...

Discover More

Ignoring Hyphens in Word Counts

When you instruct Word to tell you how many words are in a document, it treats hyphenated words or phrases as if they are ...

Discover More

Word Count in Multiple Selections

Getting a word count for an entire document is easy. What you may not know is that some versions of Word can also provide ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is nine minus 1?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.