Sorry, not got the answer, but on the linky debate, I’d say that, if you are going to link as in your example, you’d avoid some of the pitfalls by using named ranges rather than cell references
E.g. in your example, name that R4:R50 range in your data sheet as “risklogdata201510” or somesuch. Then if someone goes in and inserts some rows at the top of the sheet, the reference will still work, whereas R4:R50 would have become “wrong”
I also find that meaningful range names saves time flipping back and forth to check what exactly it is that such and such a formula is pointing at.
It also can make monthly updates easier if you have different sizes or shapes – e.g. if November’s and December’s risk logs are different lengths, say R4:R45 and R4:R55 then, as long as you’ve named each range appropriately, you don’t have to count, remember or check in next month’s “Spreadsheet2” you just change the references from e.g. “name_of_thing201510” to “name_of_thing_201511”
Sorry I can’t figure out your actual problem though – I thought it might be something in the application settings you can change regarding how it handles links on opening, but I can’t find it.
