VBA list of filepaths of linked objects in document

I have a number of large Microsoft Word documents with many linked files from many Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. When opening a Word document, even with the 'update linked files at open' option unchecked:

Word still checks each link at its source by opening and closing the relevant excel spreadsheet for each individual link (so for x number of links, even if from the same spreadsheet, Word will open and close the spreadsheet x times). This means opening documents takes a very long time.

I have found that documents open faster if the spreadsheets containing the source of linked objects are already open, so Word doesn't keep opening, closing, reopening them.

So far, the beginnings of a solution I have is to create a list of all the filepaths of the linked objects, done by following VBA code:

Sub TypeArray()

Dim List(), Path As String
Dim i, x As Integer
Dim s As InlineShape
Dim fso As FileSystemObject, ts As TextStream

Set fso = New FileSystemObject
Set ts = fso.OpenTextFile("C:\MyFolder\List.txt", 8, True)

With ts
    .WriteLine (ActiveDocument.InlineShapes.Count)
End With

For Each s In ActiveDocument.InlineShapes
        Path = s.LinkFormat.SourcePath & "\" _
        & s.LinkFormat.SourceName
        With ts
            .WriteLine (Path)
        End With
Next s
End Sub

'--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Private Sub WriteStringToFile(pFileName As String, pString As String)

    Dim intFileNum As Integer

    intFileNum = FreeFile

    Open pFileName For Append As intFileNum
    Print #intFileNum, pString
    Close intFileNum

End Sub
'--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Private Sub SendFileToNotePad(pFileName As String)

    Dim lngReturn As Long

    lngReturn = Shell("NOTEPAD.EXE " & pFileName, vbNormalFocus)

End Sub

which works well, but can only be used after a document is already open, which defeats its purpose.

So, finally, my question(s) are these:

1) Is there a way to run this code (or any better, more efficient code - suggestions are welcome) before opening a Word document and waiting through the long process of checking each link at its source?

2) Is there a way to avoid all this and simply have Word not check the links when it I open a document?

Sorry for the long question, and thank you for the help!