Excel for Mac does not automatically refresh linked data or PivotTables

Gerwin Van de Lurg 60 Reputation points
2026-01-12T11:41:19.57+00:00

After a recent update, some workbooks exhibit inconsistent behavior where formulas recalculate correctly, but linked data, PivotTables, or Power Query results do not refresh automatically. Manual refresh sometimes resolves the issue, but it reoccurs after reopening the file.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For business | MacOS
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Gabriel-N 20,760 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
2026-01-12T14:55:44.0033333+00:00

Dear Gerwin Van de Lurg

Thank you for sharing your experience and raising this issue. While testing and doing some research, I found that the Auto Refresh feature for PivotTables is currently available only for Microsoft 365 Insider builds. You can check the official announcement here: Keep data updated with PivotTable Auto Refresh in Excel

Please recheck your update channel to confirm if you’re on the Insider build. On my side, I tested this feature and noticed the option is greyed out, which suggests it’s not yet active for the standard channel. The current workaround is to manually refresh and enable “Refresh data when opening the file” 

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For more in-depth troubleshooting related to Insider builds, I recommend visiting the Microsoft Tech Community at https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/category/microsoft365/blog/microsoft365insiderblog for additional guidance and support.

Hope this helps!

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread. 

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  1. AI answer

    2026-01-12T11:41:26.7266667+00:00

    If Excel for Mac is not automatically refreshing linked data, PivotTables, or Power Query results after a recent update, it may be due to issues with the calculation settings or the way Excel handles linked data. Here are some steps you can take to troubleshoot the problem:

    1. Check Calculation Options: Ensure that the calculation mode is set to automatic. You can do this by going to the Formulas tab in Excel Options and selecting Automatic under Calculation options.
    2. Manual Refresh: Since you mentioned that manual refresh sometimes resolves the issue, you can continue to use this as a temporary workaround until the automatic refresh issue is resolved.
    3. Update Links: If your workbook contains external links, make sure that the sources of these links are available and correctly linked. You can check this by going to the Data tab and selecting Edit Links to update or change the source if necessary.
    4. Reinstall Office: If the problem persists, consider reinstalling Office for Mac to ensure that all components are functioning correctly and to eliminate any potential corruption from the update.
    5. Repair Disk Permissions: If you are experiencing permissions issues, you can use the Repair Disk Permissions feature in Mac OS X to troubleshoot this.

    If the issue continues after trying these steps, it may be beneficial to check for any further updates or patches from Microsoft that address this specific problem.

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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