Microsoft Excel is a very powerful multi-purpose tool that anyone can utilise. Only if y'all're someone who works with spreadsheets every day, you might need to know more than than just the basics of using Excel. Knowing a few simple tricks can go a long mode with Excel. A good example is knowing how to link cells in Excel between sheets and workbooks.

Learning this will salvage a lot of time and confusion in the long run.

Why Link Jail cell Data in Excel

Being able to reference information across different sheets is a valuable skill for a few reasons.

Get-go, it will go far easier to organize your spreadsheets. For case, you can use one sail or workbook for collecting raw data, and so create a new tab or a new workbook for reports and/or summations.

One time you link the cells between the two, you only need to change or enter new information in 1 of them and the results will automatically modify in the other. All without having to move back and forth betwixt unlike spreadsheets.

Second, this play a trick on will avert duplicating the aforementioned numbers in multiple spreadsheets. This volition reduce your working time and the possibility of making calculation mistakes.

In the following article, yous'll acquire how to link single cells in other worksheets, link a range of cells, and how to link cells from different Excel documents.

How to Link 2 Single Cells

Let'southward start by linking ii cells located in different sheets (or tabs) but in the same Excel file. In order to exercise that, follow these steps.

  • In Sheet2 type an equal symbol (=) into a cell.
  • Go to the other tab (Sheet1) and click the cell that yous want to link to.
  • Press Enter to complete the formula.

Now, if you lot click on the cell in Sheet2, you'll encounter that Excel writes the path for you in the formula bar.

For example, =Sheet1!C3, where Sheet1 is the name of the sheet, C3 is the cell you're linking to, and the exclamation marking (!) is used as a separator between the 2.

Using this approach, you can link manually without leaving the original worksheet at all. Just type the reference formula directly into the cell.

Note: If the sail name contains spaces (for instance Sheet 1), so yous need to put the proper noun in single quotation marks when typing the reference into a cell. Like ='Sheet ane′!C3. That'due south why information technology's sometimes easier and more reliable to allow Excel write the reference formula for y'all.

How to Link a Range of Cells

Another way you can link cells in Excel is past linking a whole range of cells from different Excel tabs. This is useful when you need to store the aforementioned data in unlike sheets without having to edit both sheets.

In order to link more than one cell in Excel, follow these steps.

  • In the original tab with data (Sheet1), highlight the cells that yous want to reference.
  • Copy the cells (Ctrl/Command + C, or right click and choose Re-create).
  • Get to the other tab (Sheet2) and click on the cell (or cells) where you lot desire to place the links.
  • Right click on the jail cell(-s) and select Paste Special…
  • At the lesser left corner of the menu choose Paste Link.

When you lot click on the newly linked cells in Sheet2 you can see the references to the cells from Sheet1 in the formula tab. Now, whenever you change the data in the chosen cells in Sheet1, it will automatically change the data in the linked cells in Sheet2.

How to Link a Jail cell With a Part

Linking to a cluster of cells can be useful when you practise summations and want to proceed them on a sheet split up from the original raw data.

Let'southward say you demand to write a SUM part in Sheet2 that volition link to a number of cells from Sheet1. In order to do that, go to Sheet2 and click on the cell where you desire to place the function. Write the function as normal, but when information technology comes to choosing the range of cells, go to the other canvas and highlight them equally described above.

You will have =SUM(Sheet1!C3:C7), where the SUM function sums the contents from cells C3:C7 in Sheet1. Press Enter to complete the formula.

How to Link Cells From Different Excel Files

The procedure of linking between different Excel files (or workbooks) is virtually the same as above. Except, when you paste the cells, paste them in a dissimilar spreadsheet instead of a dissimilar tab. Here's how to do it in 4 easy steps.

  • Open up both Excel documents.
  • In the second file (Help Desk Geek), choose a prison cell and type an equal symbol (=).
  • Switch to the original file (Online Tech Tips), and click on the cell that you desire to link to.
  • Press Enter to consummate the formula.

Now the formula for the linked cell also has the other workbook name in foursquare brackets.

If you close the original Excel file and look at the formula again, you lot will see that it now likewise has the entire certificate'south location. Meaning that if yous move the original file that you lot linked to some other identify or rename it, the links will cease working. That's why information technology's more than reliable to keep all the important data in the same Excel file.

Become a Pro Microsoft Excel User

Linking cells between sheets is only one instance of how you can filter data in Excel and keep your spreadsheets organized. Check out some other Excel tips and tricks that we put together to assistance y'all get an advanced user.

What other neat Excel lifehacks practice you know and use? Do you know any other creative means to link cells in Excel? Share them with us in the comment section below.