It is possible that there is an invisible, but open instance of Excel. Try
clicking Ctrl+Alt+Delete to bring up the task manager. See if there is
EXCEL listed in the running tasks. If there is, choose to close it. Try
again and see if the links now work.

Signature
Bill Dilworth
A proud member of the Microsoft PPT MVP Team
Users helping fellow users.
http://billdilworth.mvps.org
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
vestprog2@ Please read the PowerPoint FAQ pages.
yahoo. They answer most of our questions.
com www.pptfaq.com
.
> I have been running Powerpoint 2003 with links to Excel workbooks, but
> at the moment the Excel workbooks stubbornly refuse to open from my
> Powerpoint presentation. Any ideas from anyone please?