link

A link is a connection between components of a compound document. Specifically, a link is an OLE link, which is a reference to another document. A link can be static or dynamic, and weak or strong.

A static link links a parent document to a particular version of a child document. A dynamic link links a parent document to the current version of a child document.

A strong link means that you cannot delete the parent without deleting the child, and vice versa. A weak link means you can delete components independently.