If you need to make a one-time change to a destination link without removing the connection to the source, you can override the link. Overrides can accommodate exceptions or customization needed for a single destination link while maintaining the audit trail. Use the Link Properties panel for insight into where overrides exist for links in your document.
Note: Destination links with overrides won't update when the source is updated and published. Check out content placeholders if you want to create source links that allow for variations at the destination.
Requirements
- File owners and editors can create, modify, and remove overrides. Viewers are not able to create or update overrides.
Apply an override
Overrides can be applied to text links in a document or presentation.
To apply an override:
- Select an existing destination link that you want to override.
- Right-click the link and select Override Link from the menu.
- Enter or modify the value you want to display instead of the link.
- Click off the link to finish your override.
An orange triangle in the upper left corner of the link indicates that the destination link is overridden.
You can also override cell text in a sheet or table. This can be a standalone spreadsheet or a table embedded in a larger document or presentation.
To override cell text:
- Select an existing destination link that you want to override.
- Right-click the link and select Link options > Override links from the menu.
- Enter the new cell value.
An orange triangle in the upper left corner indicates that the link has been overridden.
Note: Only non-numeric cell data (such as Text) can be overridden. You will need to remove numeric formatting before applying an override.
Preview the link source (in a document or presentation)
When you click on an overridden text link in a document or presentation, the Overrides header will have one of the following options that both open the Source Preview:
-
Preview Source: This indicates no updates have been made to the source since the override was created. Click to preview the current source text compared to the override text in the Source Preview.
-
Source Updates: This indicates that the source link has published updates since the override was created. Click to use the Source Preview to compare the override text to the current source value or the source value at the time the override was created.
Note: This preview isn't shown when overriding cell data.
Use the Source Preview
The Source Preview shows you the differences between the source text and the override text.
To open the Source Preview:
- Click the overridden link.
- In the orange header, click Preview Source to open the Source Preview.
Note: If there are updates or changes to the source of your overridden link, the preview button will show Source Updates instead.
The comparison shown in the Source Preview depends on whether or not the source link has been updated and published.
If no source updates have been published since the time the override was created, the Source Preview shows the changes made to the destination link.
If the source has been updated and published, you can select the comparison you’d like to see:
- Click the settings icon.
- Select the comparison you want to display.
- Source value at override creation: Shows the differences between the override and the value of the source when the override was created
- Current source value: Shows the differences between the override and the current value of the source
To see the source in its original document, click the Go to Source button at the bottom left.
Remove an override
When you remove an override, the link returns to the most recently published source value.
To remove a link override:
- Right-click the overridden link and select Link options > Remove Override.
- Confirm that you want to remove the link override.
Find all link overrides
To see where all link overrides exist, have two options:
- Use the Link Properties panel to see which links are overridden
- Generate a Document Links Report to see which source links have been updated since the override was created
Note: The Link Properties panel doesn’t indicate if a source link has been updated since the override was created. Use the Document Links Report to see which source links have updates.
From the Link Properties panel, you can view the following:
- Overridden destination links indicated with the color orange
- Who made the override
- When the link was last modified
To view link properties, click on a link and open the Link Properties right panel on the right side. Check out the Link Properties article to learn more.
To go directly to the overridden destination link, click Go to Link.
To generate the Document Links Report:
- Open the Link Properties right panel.
- Click Generate.
- Once the report is generated, click Open.
You can filter the Type column to display only Overridden Destination to view a list of all overrides in the document.
To go directly to the overridden destination link, click Text.
Things to know
- When overriding links, only non-numeric formatting (such as Text) is supported. You will need to remove numeric formatting before using any overrides.
- "Automatic" value formatting is considered a numeric format — even if the cell value is all text.
- When copying a file with link overrides, the overrides will carry over to the copied file. If you don’t want to retain these link overrides, remove them before copying the file.