Links not up recognizing open source

I posted this question on what I think was the wrong
newsgroup yesterday (before I found this one), so I
apologize if it is bad form to repost the same question.
Also a little more research has led me to believe that the
problem is somehow related to mapped drives vs UNC but I
don't really understand what concept and still can't
figure out how to correct the issue. So with that opening
here's what I wrote yesterday.

I have 2 files P:\finance\2003\source.xls and
P:\finance\2004\linked.xls. The formulas in the linked
document read ('\\Phfs1\Public\Finance\2003\source.xls).
The links only update if I open source.xls though the Edit
Links Open Source menu options. If I open source.xls
directly, linked.xls doesn't recognize it as the correct
source.

To make matters worse, if I add a new linked cell from the
unrecognized source.xls, the formula in linked.xls will
read P:\finance\2003\source.xls, leaving 2 differant names
for the same file in the linked file listing, making
difficult to get linked.xls updated with current data.

Note that both files are large - source.xls 18MB,
linked.xls 4MB. I don't notice this in other linked files
so I'm wondering if the size of the file matters.

Any body have any ideas here?

Thanks for any help or insight

Dot wrote:
Any body have any ideas here?

I would hope that if you opened the source file via the UNC filename
\\Phfs1\Public\Finance\2003\source.xls rather than via P: you would end
up with all links being of the same form.

Bill Manville
MVP - Microsoft Excel, Oxford, England
No email replies please - respond to newsgroup