Comments on: How to create external reference in Excel to refer to another sheet or workbook

This short tutorial explains the basics of an external reference in Excel, and shows how to reference another sheet and workbook in your formulas. Continue reading →

Comments page 9. Total comments: 361

  1. Dear
    Sir, kindly make for me one formulla based sheet ( opening+receving-damage-consuption= 'closing) sheet plz let me how to make

  2. Hi Svetlana,

    I have a query that has me stumped. I am a bit of an excel novice so it may be nothing. I am currently trying to create a comprehensive meal planner/macronutrient calculator for my fitness training. What I want to do is have two separate sheets:
    The first I want to be a table that has all the ingredients i use in the first column, and then the Fat/Carb/Cal/Protein contents (1% of) in the subsequent columns directly relating to the quantity column at the end so I can change this value and all the macros will change accordingly. This I have managed to do.
    The second page, I want to have 6 individual tables laid out: INGREDIENT/CALORIES/CARBS/FAT/PROTEIN/QUANTITY. I would then like the ingredient column to be a drop down list that would include all the ingredients from the other sheet, and once selected, would autofill the remaining columns - this way I could easily add ingredients in the morning when I make up my meals for the day without having to individually input the stats. Any advice would be appreciated.

    Thanks,

    Dorian

  3. Hi Svetlana,

    Question: How to make an external reference and to get the full format from the referenced cell: number, alignment, font, border and fill formats? Is there a way or formula that can do that? The target is not to get only the value from the referenced cell, but also the apearence of that cell.

    Thanks
    Vasya

  4. I have two different workbooks. One with data source MSFGS.xlsx and another one where I would like to count the number of items, say for a particular month 'November' from the MSFGS.xlsx

    When the MSFGS.xlsx is closed the below formula is not working:

    =COUNTIFS('C:\Users\Desktop\A\[MSFGS.xlsx]GSD'!F3:F93,">="&"1-11-2016", 'C:\Users\Desktop\A\[MSFGS.xlsx]GSD'!F3:F93,"<="&"30-11-2016")

    But it returns a value when MSFGS is opened. Any error in the formula?

    Thank you.

  5. I have one worksheet which have external reference. I received this excel via email. When I click on cell formula shows as below

    '\\s00697\team\Property Department\High Value Homeowners\Underwriting Guides & Rates\XXXX RATERS\[BGS HomeGuard Rate Sheet v2.01 0916.xlsx]Earthquake rates'

    But I am not able to find BGS HomeGuard Rate Sheet v2.01 0916.xlsx.

    Please help.

    Thanks in advance,
    Amit Chavda

  6. Hey gang...If a cell is desired to be empty on sheet 1, how can I not have a zero populated on sheet 2?

    1. Wally this is what I used

      ='SHEETNAME'!CELLNUMBER&""

    2. I am having the same issue.

  7. Hi i have define a few formula from sone external workbook. Is there any quick button or shortcut key for me to edit link of these external workbook to other external workbook?

  8. Hi,

    I'm trying to copy cells containing formulas into a new workbook, but I'm getting this error.

    Formula copied from August Monthly Management Report_draft v2.33.xlsm

    =IF(INDEX('EM raw'!$L3:$L18;sbrValue_EM_02)="";#N/A;INDEX('EM raw'!L3:L18;sbrValue_EM_02))

    What gets pasted:

    =IF(INDEX('[August Monthly Management Report_draft v2.33.xlsm]EM raw'!#REF!;sbrValue_EM_02)="";#N/A;INDEX('[August Monthly Management Report_draft v2.33.xlsm]EM raw'!#REF!;sbrValue_EM_02))

    Any ideas?

  9. Hi,

    I want to use some values from the sheet1 in a purchase into another workbook's newsheet.

    =[Purchase.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$5

    This works but if i change the values in sheet1(source sheet) means value in the newsheet which values are extracted from sheet1 also getting changed. And i want to make it unchangeable in the new sheet.
    Is there any possibilities for that?

    Please help!

    Thanks in advance

    1. Hello Kishore,

      In this case, replace the formulas with their values to break the connection between the extracted and original values. One of many possible ways to do this is Paste Special > Values (the detailed steps can be found here: How to copy values in Excel.

  10. In case anyone else has a similar needs, I sorted this out by using Vlookup and define name for the range.

  11. In fact I could use the same sheet and put them in difference columns but I would still need it to choose the correct column depending upon whether the number typed into the cell has a prefix of E or D

  12. Hi,

    Asking the question is probably more difficult than the answer, but here goes,
    I am currently using this formula =LOOKUP(J4,'PIT Codes'!$A$2:$A$201,'PIT Codes'!$B$2:$B$201)
    The user inputs a number and this references the sheet 'PIT Codes'to populate the sell with the corresponding code.
    Unfortunately we have had to introduce another size of PIT so I was wondering if I can make it check one of 2 sheets 'PIT Codes E' and 'PIT Codes D' the difference will be that the user inputs E1 or D1 depending which they have used.

  13. Is there a shortcut for referring to multiple sheets? Like, if I have a table to summarize a year's worth of data and I want to input the data in cell A1 from Sheets Jan, Feb, Mar... is there a way to do that easily? Like when you drag the square in the lower right of the cell it automatically copies the adjacent cells from the other sheet (unless you lock the first cell, in which case it copies the same cell). Is there a way to do that in multiple sheets instead of multiple cells? Does that make sense? It's so tedious to have to keep changing the Sheet name in the formula to refer to other sheets.. :(

    Thanks!

  14. Hi,

    if a I have e sheet(01) with a row(row1) with formulas referring to another sheet(02) and I copy sheet(02) to another sheet(03) changing some datas (typically invoices) if I want to create another row(row2) in sheet(01) referring to sheet (03) it doesn't work, excel changes the cell referred and more important can I automatically say to the program to change all the formulas from the one I wrote manually for the sheet (02) to the ones of sheet (03) or do I need to do it manually for each cell?

  15. Hi,

    May I know about the serial number of first sheet reference to next sheet to 1,5,11,30,45 like that.How to use what formula.

    Thanks,

  16. is there a way to automatically reference a different sheet's name for example A1 = sheet1,

    vlookup(A1!B1,..)

    hence it would look at cell B1 in sheet1

    so I'm trying to reference another sheet by getting its name from a cell rather than typing it

    thank you

  17. Hi Svetlana,

    I have come across various of your articles in the last few days and found them all quite helpful, so thanks a lot for your effort and work :D

    Now, the problem that brought me to this specific article is whether an Excel workbook can work "as an interface" to another Excel workbook. I mean, one Excel file contains both some important and "basic" information along with instructions as to how use this data, but I want that Excel to remain "hidden" and only use its contents (both the information and the logics) in another Excel file.
    From what I have read in this article, I would say that the information can be brought easily, but a doubt remains in my mind as to whether I should be able to bring the logics as well...

    (I would really try to pull this off myself but unfortunately I am far from being an Excel expert, I am not even a medium-level user to be honest, but there is work to be done...)

    Thanks again for everything,
    Luis.

  18. Hi,
    I read over the posts. I hope that I didn't overlook the exact answer to my question.

    I have a workbook with several Data sheets and 1 Totals sheet. Each data sheet has rows that contain updating totals as new data is entered, using a formula. These new totals would be in the same column but different rows. I would like the updated totals from each Data sheet to record on the Totals sheet in a specific cell. Therefore, I would need to add something to the end of the formula in the Data Sheets, that, after it calculates the new total, it also places that number in the Total sheet.
    Your help is greatly appreciated.
    Thank you.

  19. Hi,
    Is there a way to reference a cell/cell range from a OneDrive Excel file?
    Thanks for your help.
    Regards,
    EE.

  20. Dear Svetlana,

    Thank you so much for your really useful post. Very clearly written too!

    I've successfully created links to other workbooks now but I would like the formatting of the original data to be carried through too and I'm really struggling with that. For example, if a colleague has categorised some data as 'category red' and highlighted the cell accordingly in their sheet (the one that my central sheet is linking to), the data come through but not formatting.

    Any help would be hugely appreciated!

    Best wishes,
    Michael

  21. Hey,

    Thx for the info and detailed explanation. I have an issue which i cant solve.

    I will be creating a new budget and workpapers from 2016 to 2017. When i copy 2016 and paste it and change the name to 2017, the links of over 200 workbooks stays at on the 2016 folder.

    I have to change the links of each file from 2016 to 2017 for each workpaper one by one.Is there a shorter way to do this?

  22. Hi

    i'm a beginner,i need help, i try to connect selection from other sheet to take data for example i entering D on sheet agustus and in the other sheet i want d become "07:00" but the result is always value but when i put all the file in one sheet the result is good, here is the formula

    =IF('Agustus 16'!V11:V12="X","-",IF('Agustus 16'!V11:V12="D","07:00",IF('Agustus 16'!V11:V12="N","19:00")))

    Please Help

  23. Hi Svetlana, thanks for all the tips. Here's a new twist:

    Is there a way to reference cells of a CLOSED file in the same folder by using its name only, not the full path ?

    These files are inside a dropbox folder that is shared with team members, and the structure of dropbox means that the root elements of the path change with each individual, so the full path references don't work.

    Thanks!

  24. Hello, and thank you for the always help full posts.

    If the path for the source file in =SUM('C:\Documents\Sales.xlsx'!Jan_sales) is a named range (let's said srcpath )when entering this formula =SUM(srcpath!Jan_sales) I get the #REF error, why?

  25. As mentioned in this thread, if I create a link in workbook A to another workbook B, Excel shows only the workbook name and cell address in the link. This link is updated to include the full path when workbook B is closed. Does anyone know how/if I can get the full path of the link while workbook B is open? I need to get the full path via VBA. Cant find any properties of the cell that give the full path until the source is closed.

  26. re: Referencing between sheets in the same workbook:

    Svetlana,
    Thank you so much! You are the only source out of dozens I have read that address how to enter the sheet name if there are blank spaces in the name of the sheet (by enclosing the sheet name with single quotation marks.) You have saved the day!!

  27. Hi I have created a spreadsheet in Excel to control when employee's certifications are expiring. Then I have created seperate folders for each employee that contains the picture of the certifications. So I wanted to be able to click on the cell in excel and it be linked to the person's folder. The concern I have is obviously there are new employees added to this excel spreadsheet in alphabetical order. Therefore would the link automatically stay with the name? Example cell A2 is Doe, Jane but tomorrow that name could appear in cell B2. Is there a way to keep the link to the name?

  28. Hi I have created a spreadsheet in Excel to control when employee's certifications are expiring. Then I have created seperate folders for each employee that contains the picture of the certifications. So I wanted to be able to click on the cell in excel and it be linked to the person's folder. The concern I have is obviously there are new employees added to this excel spreadsheet in alphabetical order. Therefore would the link automatically stay with the name? Example cell A2 is Doe, Jane but tomorrow that name could appear in cell A3. Is there a way to keep the link to the name?

  29. I want to write a formula in one summary sheet of workbook, wherein the value comes from a fixed cell number of different sheets of the same work book. In other words the value of a fixed cell number gets updated in the summary sheet as and when new sheets gets updated. can I write a formula for adding sheets for sheet1, sheet2, sheet3 etc.. i.e. =sheet1+1!H37!!

    Regards,

  30. I have worksheet sheet1,sheet2 and sheet3 with big data. this sheets were added together in "summary sheet"
    ='sheet1'!C1+'sheet2'!C1+'sheet3'!C1
    now I added another sheet4 with the same rows and columns as "summary sheet" and want to sum up on the Summary sheet as
    ='sheet1'!C1+'sheet2'!C1+'sheet3'!C1+'sheet4'!C1
    but since my data is too big I can't manage doing all the rows and columns. so how can I state so that the whole "Summary sheet" add up sheet4 on the Previous one adding up same cells of sheet4 on it.

  31. I have worksheet sheet1,sheet2 and sheet3 with big data. this sheets were added together in "summary sheet"
    ='sheet1'!C1+'sheet2'!C1+'sheet3'!C1
    now I added another sheet4 with the same rows and columns as "summary sheet" and want to sum up on the Summary sheet as
    ='sheet1'!C1+'sheet2'!C1+'sheet3'!C1+'sheet3'!C1
    but since my data is too big I can't manage doing all the rows and columns. so how can I state so that the whole "Summary sheet" add up sheet4 on the Previous one adding up same cells of sheet4 on it.

  32. Hello,

    I have a macro that displays the name of each sheet in a column at the end. I want to display the value of A1 for each of those sheets. How can I do that?

  33. I want to refer a closed worksheet cell.

    ='D:\10187\CSS\[=BW169]PipCost'!$D$2.

    How to put filename with using formula?

  34. Hi,

    I am facing another issue in referecning using Index & Match. When I pass a reference of one sheet in the second sheet, the value becomes visible and my formula works on it. But if I change the position of the column by inserting another column in the first excel sheet, the formula stops working. I have tried it to resolve by passing the "Name" of teh list as a reference in the 2nd sheet instead of Fixed column, but the issue is not resolved. Can anyone help on this?

    Aftab

  35. Hi, i have an excel spreadsheet with office sales open all day and its linked to each departments excel workbook which has their sales on it. Currently i have to select update everytime i want upto date sales figures. Id like my excel book to update each time a department updates their sales without my telling the spreadsheet workbook to do it. Is this possible? The workbooks are all saved in a public drive and each team opens their workbook from the public drive on their pc and adds sales as they get them. Thanks

  36. Hello Svetlana Cheusheva,
    Your article is so useful and it helped me a lot learning insights of excel.

    How I can reference data from online uploaded excel sheet?

    Your quick reply would be highly appreciated.

  37. I am working with 32 sheets. need to draw information from different sheets 6 times in each column. is there a way to name the sheet 1 time instead of naming the sheet 6 times? there is only one other sheet for each column that data is drawn from. I tried "sheet name" in c5 and tried to write the formula =c5'!b23 with no luck.

  38. Thanks a million! Note that it is much safer to use named references when linking to external sheets.

  39. Is there a way to set a value in an external reference. All of the examples I see so far are retrieving references from an external. I would like to be able to update the external value.

  40. so efficient

  41. Hello

    Is there any way to have a variable within the file name of an external link?

    For example:

    File A has cells that link to File B.

    The next month it needs to change from April to May. Rather than change the linking in each cell to point to the new file I would like to have a cell in file A where I just Type "May" instead of "April" and the links automatically update the file direction to May.

    Below is the example- Ideally I would love to have a cell in File A where I just put in "05 May" and "May" and it updates the changes below in all formula so I don't have to manually go through and change everything. (There are hundreds of linked sheets... they all change by only the month in naming and saving convention)

    April link
    ='\\2016 Sheets\04 Apr\[April 1 2016.xlsm]Purchases-Sales'!$K$13
    May Link
    ='\\2016 Sheets\05 May\[May 1 2016.xlsm]Purchases-Sales'!$K$13

    1. Kelly,

      Please try using the nested function
      INDIRECT(CONCATENATE()).

      For example put your variables in A1 and A2
      =INDIRECT(CONCATENATE("'\\2016 Sheets\",A1,A2,
      "Purchases-Sales'!$K$13")

  42. Good morning,
    I am working with 2 sheets. One is taking all the information to the other.

    But, when I try to put in different order, it goes wrong.

    How can I do to have different SORT in both tables or sheets?

    1. If you're having issues when sorting the source data, i'm suspicious you're using VLOOKUP.
      try switching to Index/Match and you'll never look back!
      =INDEX("Range with values you want",MATCH("Specific Value","From this Range",0))
      you can move those columns anywhere you want and the formula still works. You can use cell references, structured table references, or even named ranges

  43. How about if you are working on excel online? Thank you.

  44. Hi Svetlana,

    I have a unique problem, we created a [Planner.xlsx] template to enter our weekly sales. So instead of creating a new excel sheet every time, we save the template as a [Planner 25-04-16.xlsx]. We also have 3 other sheets to Planner.xlsx and save those sheets similarly as well. I recently started to externally reference the 3 sheets to Planner.xlsx and everything works fine. But when I save all the sheets as Planner 25-04-16.xlsx, Book1 25-04-16.xlsx, Book2 25-04-16.xlsx, and Book3 25-04-16.xlsx; the formulas still reference to PLanner.xlsx, but I want all of them to reference to the weekly sheets. Is there a way to do this without manually changing the references on a weekly basis.

    Thanks in advance.

  45. I have 4 tabs (1stwk, 2ndwk, 3rdwk, 4thwk) wherein I need the info from B2 of each tab to be totaled and entered on my final tab. I tried =SUM(April25!Sheet1!Sheet1!Sheet1!A7D9+April18!b2+April11!b2+April4!B2) but didn't work. What am I doing wrong?

    1. You have to try this simple one,

      =SUM(Sheet1!B2,Sheet2!B2,Sheet3!B2,Sheet4!B2)

  46. I would like to reference an entire tab in one worksheet as a tab in another worksheet.
    is that possible? how?

  47. Hi, great, helpful posts. I was wondering if you could help me with an INDEX/MATCH problem where all the information I am referencing in sheet A is actually in sheet B, so only the cell/reference in sheet A in "MATCH" is actually in the sheet where I am building my function, but I cannot figure out a way to reference the column number correctly for the INDEX function as it resides in a different sheet simply typing the column number clearly does not work... Thank you!

  48. Svetlana Cheusheva
    I receive a number of excel files (on a weekly basis) and one file could have up to 1000 entries of items purchased.Information of 1 particular item is contained in 1 file.
    When i receive items, am supposed to extract information of particular items from the files i received. However, not all items received in a particular consignment are contained in one file, i would be forced to go through 10 files to get all the information.
    I would wish to come up with a file where i will only have to type in product code and container number and information is extracted from the weekly sheets stored in one folder.

  49. I have come up with a cell reference using the ADDRESS formula. Is there anyway to use this when referencing another sheet in a workbook?

    So instead of:
    ='Ex workbook'!A1

    Something along the lines of:
    ='Ex workbook'! & ADDRESS(1,MATCH(WEEKNUM(F1),'Ex Workbook'!$1:$1,0))

    I added the & to show where I need to join the two halves of the reference. Thanks!

  50. Below is an example of my formula.

    ='All-Pr X Wght'!EF$3/'All-Pr X Wght'!$B$3*100

    I cannot get 'EF$3' to automatically change to 'ef$4' when copying down a column?

    Why?

    1. Hi Anna,

      Because you fixed the row reference with the dollar sign. When you add $ in front of a column and/or row coordinate, it locks that coordinate(s), and the reference does not change no matter where the formula is moved or copied. Just change it to EF3 and the reference will adjust based on the relative position of a cell where the formula is copied. For more information about absolute and relative cell references, please check out the following tutorial: Why use dollar sign ($) in Excel formulas - absolute and relative cell references.

      1. hii....i just want to know whether i can get all the values of a data in a page by making any reference in a dropdown box...ie..... if i select any name created in a dropdown box, it should show all the values related to that name in another page.

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