A believable label can survive after the relationship that supplied it has been lost. Before calling a data-linked drawing current, check what the refresh actually resolved rather than accepting its familiar appearance.

Use copies of a desktop Visio drawing and its imported data source. Record one fictional linked identifier K17 with the displayed state Awaiting. Preserve the source before creating a deliberate duplicate-key problem for the exercise.

Inspect the conflict and retained value

Use Data, Refresh Data, select the practice source and refresh it. Duplicate identifiers can prevent Visio from matching a shape uniquely; the Refresh Conflicts pane offers Select Matching Row to choose the intended association.

Ignore All Conflicts has a different result for duplicate identifiers: the rows remain in External Data, existing links are removed and original values remain in Shape Data. It does not establish which duplicate row is authoritative.

For the trial, let the source offer two K17 rows labelled Ready and Hold. If you ignore those conflicts, inspect both the missing link and retained Awaiting value. Seeing Awaiting is not evidence that either new source row was accepted.

Resolve the record’s meaning before relinking

Write a small reconciliation note listing the previous value, the two candidate source rows and the decision still required. Ask the data owner whether the identifier is incomplete, duplicated accidentally or intended to describe more than one record.

Do not choose a row solely because it produces the label someone expected to see. The association should have an explainable basis that another maintainer can apply after the next source change.

Once the source meaning is resolved, return to the preserved copies or carry out the agreed repair and refresh again. Inspect the resulting association and value together, then compare them with the owner’s decision. Keep unresolved shapes clearly identified during handover; a tidy drawing should not conceal records whose links still need attention.

Sources: Microsoft official guidance.