April 9, 2008

From Another Workbook

Yesterday, we discussed how to write MS Excel formulas that reference cells located on a different worksheet within your workbook. Well, the next logical thing to do is go one step further and ask: how do we write formulas that reference cells from a completely different workbook?

That's a very good question and it's exactly what we're going to go over today!

The order viagra online uk easiest way to tackle this one is to let Excel do the referencing for you. So, begin by opening both the workbook with the data cells and the one that will contain the formula.

Now, go to the cell that contains the formula and begin as usual. That is, start with your equal sign and/or function and pause at the first place in the formula where you're looking to pull data from a different workbook.

For example:

=sum(

Next, you need to switch to the workbook that contains the data. (For all you keyboard people out there, Ctrl + F6 will rotate you through the open workbooks).

Once you're switched over to the data workbook, highlight the cell(s) that contain the needed information.

Now, you'll need to switch back to the formula workbook (Ctrl + F6 works here too).

When you return, you should see that Excel has automatically put in the reference you were looking for from the other workbook.

At this point, you're ready to finish up your formula. Continuing with the above example, it'd be best to first finish up with the right parentheses.

There you have it! A complete formula containing references to cells from another workbook. And better yet, Excel did a lot of the typing for you!

Next, I think we should discuss how Excel handles updating the formula to reflect the changed data.

If both workbooks are open, the data changes will immediately be reflected.
If the data workbook is open when you open the formula workbook, the updates will be reflected upon opening the file.
Now, here's the most involved situation:
- If you're using Excel 2003 or older and you're opening the formula workbook without the data workbook being open, you will be asked if you want to update your formulas, like this:
  
  If you choose to update, Excel will then go into the data file and get the information it needs, without actually opening the workbook.
- If you're using Excel 2007 and you're opening the formula workbook without the data workbook being open, you will see a security warning above the formula bar, like this:
  
  Clicking on the Options button will open this dialogue window:
  
  Choose "Enable this content" and click OK.
  
  Again, as with the other versions of Excel, if you choose to update, Excel will go into the data file and get the information it needs, without actually opening the workbook.