

If the source workbook is closed, you must add the entire path to your external reference.įor example, to add up cells B2:B5 in the Jan sheet from Sales.xlsx workbook that resides within the Reports folder on drive D, you write the following formula: When you reference another workbook in Excel, that other workbook does not necessarily need to be open. =SUM(Jan!B2:B5) External reference to a closed workbook If you want, say, to calculate the sum of those cells, the formula with the workbook reference would look as follows: Sheet_name! Cell_addressįor example, here's an external reference to cells B2:B5 on sheet Jan in the workbook named Sales.xlsx: In other words, you use the following reference format for an open workbook reference: When the source workbook is open, an Excel external reference includes the workbook name in square brackets (including the file extension), followed by the sheet name, exclamation point (!), and the referenced cell or a range of cells. In Microsoft Excel formulas, external references to another workbook are displayed in two ways, depending on whether the source workbook is open or closed.
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How to reference another workbook in Excel And now, let's see how you can refer to cells from a different workbook. This is how you reference another sheet in Excel. For example, to find out the total of sales in cells B2:B5 on sheet Sales, you would enter the following formula: The only difference is that you select multiple cells on the source worksheet. In a similar manner, you can reference a range of cells in another sheet. So, in the above example, you can just copy the formula to other cells in column B on sheet VAT, the cell references will adjust for each row, and you will have VAT for each product correctly calculated. When adding an Excel reference to another sheet using the above method, by default Microsoft Excel adds a relative reference (with no $ sign). Excel will immediately insert an external reference to that cell, as shown in the following screenshot: Switch to sheet Sales, and click on cell B2 there.

Start typing the formula =19%* in cell B2 on sheet VAT.Finish typing the formula and press the Enter key to complete it.įor example, if you have a list of sales figures in sheet Sales and you want to calculate the Value Added Tax (19%) for each product in another sheet named VAT, proceed in the following way:.When it comes to adding a reference to another worksheet, switch to that sheet and select a cell or a range of cells you want to refer to.Start typing a formula either in a destination cell or in the formula bar.To have Excel insert a reference to another sheet in your formula, do the following:

When writing a formula that refers to cells in another worksheet, you can of course type that other sheet name followed by an exclamation point and a cell reference manually, but this would be a slow and error-prone way.Ī better way is point to the cell(s) in another sheet that you want the formula to refer to, and let Excel take care of the correct syntax of your sheet reference. ='Project Milestones'!A1*10 Creating a reference to another sheet in Excel In a real-life formula, which multiplies the value in cell A1 in ' Project Milestones' sheet by 10, an Excel sheet reference looks like this: For example, an external reference to cell A1 in a worksheet named Project Milestones should read as follows: 'Project Milestones'!A1. If the worksheet name includes spaces or non-alphabetical characters, you must enclose it in single quotation marks. In other words, in an Excel reference to another worksheet, you use the following format: To reference a cell or range of cells in another worksheet in the same workbook, put the worksheet name followed by an exclamation mark (!) before the cell address.

You just need to create a link between the worksheets (within the same workbook or in different workbooks) by using what is called an external cell reference or a link.Įxternal reference in Excel is a reference to a cell or a range of cells outside the current worksheet. When calculating data in Excel, you may often find yourself in a situation when you need to pull data from another worksheet or even from a different Excel file. This short tutorial explains the basics of an external reference in Excel, and shows how to reference another sheet and workbook in your formulas.
