How to delete bad file links in MS OneDrive

Question

How to delete bad file links in MS OneDrive

Ralph Schwonke 0

I have several files that were deleted from OneDrive, but the links to them still remain. When I click on "Open" on the link (the only option), I receive the attached error. I do not want to restore the files to OneDrive, I simply want to delete the bad links.

OneDrive filenames error

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Answer 1

John Jefferson Doyon 65,320 Independent Advisor

Hi, I'm John!

Those are “ghost” links pointing to files that no longer exist.

You can’t delete them from OneDrive directly because the files are already gone. The links are usually coming from somewhere else.

If you haven't already:

Check where the links are stored:

These links are usually saved in another place like Outlook emails, Excel or Word files, SharePoint pages, or even your browser bookmarks, so you’ll need to remove them from there instead of OneDrive.

Let me know what you find.

Click "Add comment" to let me know.

Regards,

John J.D.

Ralph Schwonke 0 Reputation points

2026-03-30T22:55:47.2033333+00:00

Thanks for your reply. These are MS Word and Excel files that are no longer in OneDrive. I searched for one of the filenames and it finds the file but how do I search for the link to the file?
Ralph Schwonke 0 Reputation points

2026-03-30T23:03:47.7066667+00:00

I seached my C drive, but how do I search SharePoint pages?
John Jefferson Doyon 65,320 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-03-30T23:10:43.9933333+00:00
Thank you for letting me know.

If the links are inside Word/Excel files, you don’t really “search for the link” directly—you search for the file that contains the link.

Here’s the easiest way:

Search inside Office files:

Open Word or Excel > Go to File > Open > Browse

Use the search box and type part of the file name

Open likely files and press Ctrl + F, then search the link or file name

Remove the hyperlink once found

For SharePoint pages:

Go to your SharePoint site

Use the top search bar and type the file name

Open results (pages or documents)

If it’s a page, click Edit > remove the link > Save

Important note:

Windows search on C: won’t reliably find links inside cloud files or SharePoint pages, so that’s why it didn’t help much.
Ralph Schwonke 0 Reputation points

2026-03-31T01:30:53.4733333+00:00

Well, I have played around with this without success. First of all, I highly doubt the links are within Word or Excel files, simply because I am familiar with these files, and there would be no reason for them to be there.

The problem must be with Sharepoint because that's what the error message indicates. However, I am using Sharepoint via Office 365 with a personal account, not a work or school account, so I cannot access the Sharepoint site.
John Jefferson Doyon 65,320 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-03-31T02:22:56.57+00:00
Thank you for letting me know.

If you’re using a personal Microsoft account, you actually don’t have a traditional SharePoint site you can access like work/school accounts do. That message just appears because OneDrive is built on SharePoint behind the scenes.

So in your case, the links are most likely coming from OneDrive itself, not an actual SharePoint page you can edit.

Check your OneDrive “Recent” list:

Go to OneDrive (web)

Click Recent

Look for those files

If you see them, click the … (three dots) > Remove from recent

Check “Shared” tab:

Go to OneDrive on the web: https://onedrive.live.com

Click "Shared" on the left pane.

Under "With you", select the unwanted file or folder.

Choose "Hide from Shared" from the top menu. This removes the shared files or folder from your view only, so it no longer appears in your Shared list.
John Jefferson Doyon 65,320 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-03-31T02:23:56.8966667+00:00

Let me know what you find.
Ralph Schwonke 0 Reputation points

2026-03-31T04:10:33.03+00:00

Recent -- when I click on 3 dots, only option is "Open", no "Remove from Recent"

Shared -- no files appear
John Jefferson Doyon 65,320 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-03-31T09:23:10.75+00:00

At this point, since it’s not in Shared, you can’t remove it from Recent, and you’re using a personal account, this is most likely just a stale cached entry and not an actual file or SharePoint item.

Answer 2

Those “bad links” are most likely shared links or entries in the Shared view that still point to items that have been deleted or moved. Remove them by removing sharing or deleting the underlying items from OneDrive.

Use these steps:

Go to OneDrive on the web and open the Shared view.
Locate the items whose links no longer work.
If they appear under Shared by you:
- Select the item.
- Select Manage Access.
- If the item was shared via a link, select Anyone with this link... and then Remove link.
- If the item was shared directly with people, under each person select Can Edit or Can View, then choose Remove direct access. This removes the sharing links so they no longer appear as active shared items.
If the items were deleted, also check the Recycle bin in OneDrive:
- Select Recycle bin in the left navigation.
- If the deleted items are still there and no longer needed, select them and choose Delete to permanently remove them.

If a link points to content that was renamed, moved, or deleted in SharePoint/OneDrive and shows an error like “Item does not exist,” that is expected behavior when the underlying item is gone. Removing sharing (steps above) and permanently deleting the item (if still in the recycle bin) clears out those obsolete references.

If a file still cannot be deleted, possible causes include lack of permissions, retention labels, or storage limits. In that case, a site collection administrator can investigate and, if necessary, force deletion using SharePoint admin tools.

References:

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How to delete bad file links in MS OneDrive

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