Link cell from another spreadsheet

Linked cells in Excel spreadsheets update data in real time. This ensures values remain constant between pages and avoids errors due to outdated information. You can even link cells between completely separate workbook files, as long as you keep both files on the same computer or accessible over your office network.

Table of Contents Show

Linking Within Workbooks
Links Between Workbooks
Version Notice
Get data from other sheets in your spreadsheet
Get data from other spreadsheets
Reference Another Worksheet
Reference Another Workbook
FREE Quick Reference
How do I link cells from one sheet to another in sheets?
How do I link a cell in Excel to another cell?
How do I link text from one Excel sheet to another?

Linking Within Workbooks

To link a cell to an existing cell on a different spreadsheet in the same workbook, use the format "=SheetName!CellLocation." For example, if your workbook has two spreadsheets named "Input" and "Output," and you want to keep cell A1 of Output linked to cell A1 of Input, click A1 on the Output page and type "=Input!A1" without quotes.

Links Between Workbooks

To link to cells in separate Excel files, open both files. Click the cell you want to modify and type an equals sign. Without pressing any other keys, switch to the other open file and click the cell containing the existing data. Change back to the first file and press "Control-Shift-Enter." These links will break if you move or delete the source file.

Version Notice

Information in this article applies to Microsoft Excel versions 2007 through 2013. It may vary slightly or significantly in other versions or products.

Within a single spreadsheet, you can replicate data and copy it from one sheet to another.

Get data from other sheets in your spreadsheet

On your computer, go to docs.google.com/spreadsheets/.
Open or create a sheet.
Select a cell.
Type = followed by the sheet name, an exclamation point, and the cell being copied. For example, =Sheet1!A1 or ='Sheet number two'!B4.

Note: If a sheet name contains spaces or other non-alphanumeric symbols, include single quotes around it (as in the second example).

Get data from other spreadsheets

Important: To reference a cell or range of cells in another spreadsheet, you must use the IMPORTRANGE function.

To pull data from other spreadsheets, use the IMPORTRANGE function.

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References to cells or cell ranges in other worksheets are called external references. One of the most common reasons for using external references is to create a worksheet that summarizes the totals from other worksheets. For example, a workbook might contain twelve worksheets—one for each month—and an annual summary worksheet that references and totals the data from each monthly worksheet.

Reference Another Worksheet

Click the cell where you want to insert the reference.
Type = to start building the reference.
Select the worksheet that contains the cell you want to reference.

A worksheet reference in a formula has an exclamation point (!) after the sheet name.
Select the cell you want to reference.
Click or press Enter.

The value from the other worksheet appears in the selected cell.

Reference Another Workbook

You can also reference cells from completely different files.

Click where you want to insert the reference.
You’ll need to open the workbook that contains the data you want to reference before entering the formula.
Type = and start building the reference.
Click on the Excel icon in the task bar
Select the workbook with the cell(s) you want to reference.
Select the cell(s) you want to reference.
Click or press Enter.

If you move, delete, or rename the file you referenced, your formula will break.

The value from the other workbook appears in the worksheet.

When another workbook is referenced in a formula, the file name appears in brackets like these: [ ].

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How do I link cells from one sheet to another in sheets?

Get data from other sheets in your spreadsheet Select a cell. Type = followed by the sheet name, an exclamation mark and the cell being copied. For example, =Sheet1! A1 or ='Sheet number two'!

How do I link a cell in Excel to another cell?

On the worksheet, select the cell where you want to create a link. On the Insert tab, select Hyperlink. You can also right-click the cell and then select Hyperlink... on the shortcut menu, or you can press Ctrl+K.

How do I link text from one Excel sheet to another?

Select a cell where you want to insert a hyperlink. Right-click on the cell and choose the Hyperlink option from the context menu. The Insert Hyperlink dialog window appears on the screen. Choose Place in This Document in the Link to section if your task is to link the cell to a specific location in the same workbook.