Link data from excel to excel

You should automatically be returned to Sheet 2, where the cell previously containing ‘=’ now contains the value you chose to transfer from Sheet 1.

Sheet 2 will automatically have changed the value to your chosen new value.

You should now see only the data you wanted to keep.

Hady is Content Lead at Layer.

Hady has a passion for tech, marketing, and spreadsheets. Besides his Computer Science degree, he has vast experience in developing, launching, and scaling content marketing processes at SaaS startups.

Originally published Feb 3 2022, Updated Mar 22 2023

Have you ever thought about what will you do if you need to transfer data from one Excel worksheet to another automatically?

or how will you update one Excel worksheet from another sheet, copy data from one sheet to another in Excel?

Keeping knowledge of these things is very important mainly when you are working with a large-size Excel worksheet having lots of data in it.

If you don’t have any clue about this, then this blog will help you out. As in this post, we will discuss how to copy data from one cell to another in Excel automatically?

Also, learn how to automatically update one Excel worksheet from another sheet, transfer data from one Excel worksheet to another automatically, and many more things in detail.

So, just go through this blog carefully.

Practical Scenario

Okay, first I should mention that I’m a complete amateur when it comes to excel. No VBA or macro experience, so if you’re not sure whether I know something yet, I probably don’t.

I have a workbook with 6 worksheets inside; one of the sheets is a master; it’s simply the other 6 sheets compiled into 1 big one. I need to set it up so that any new data entered into the new separate sheets is automatically entered into the master sheet, in the first blank row.

The columns are not the same across all the sheets. Hopefully, this will be easier for the pros here than it’s been for me, I’ve been banging my head against the wall on this one. I’ll be checking this thread religiously, so if you need any more information just let me know…

Thanks in advance for any help.

Source: https://ccm.net/forum/affich-1019001-automatically-update-master-worksheet-from-other-worksheets

Methods To Transfer Data From One Excel Workbook To Another

There are many different ways to transfer data from one Excel workbook to another and they are as follows:

Method #1: Automatically Update One Excel Worksheet From Another Sheet

In MS Excel workbook, we can easily update the data by linking one worksheet to another. This link is known as a dynamic formula that transfers data from one Excel workbook to another automatically.

One Excel workbook is called the source worksheet, where this link carries the worksheet data automatically, and the other workbook is called the destination worksheet in which it automatically updates the worksheet data and contains the link formula.

The following are the two different points to link the Excel workbook data for the automatic updates.

1) With the use of Copy and Paste option

• In the source worksheet, select and copy the data that you want to link in another worksheet
• Now in the destination worksheet, Paste the data where you have linked the cell source worksheet
• After that choose the Paste Link menu from the Other Paste Options in the Excel workbook

• Save all your work from the source worksheet before closing it

2) Manually enter the formula

• Open your destination worksheet, tap to the cell that is having a link formula and put an equal sign (=) across it
• Now go to the source sheet and tap to the cell which is having data. press Enter from your keyboard and save your tasks.

Note- Always remember one thing that the format of the source worksheet and the destination worksheet both are the same.

Method #2: Update Excel Spreadsheet With Data From Another Spreadsheet

To update Excel spreadsheets with data from another spreadsheet, just follow the points given below which will be applicable for the Excel version 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007.

• At first, go to the Data menu
• Select Refresh All option

• Here you have to see that when or how the connection is refreshed
• Now click on any cell that contains the connected data
• Again in the Data menu, click on the arrow which is next to Refresh All option and select Connection Properties

• After that in the Usage menu, set the options that you want to change
• On the Usage tab, set any options you want to change.

Note – If the size of the Excel data workbook is large, then I will recommend checking the Enable background refresh menu on a regular basis.

Method #3: How To Copy Data From One Cell To Another In Excel Automatically

To copy data from one cell to another in Excel, just go through the following points given below:

• First, open the source worksheet and the destination worksheet.
• In the source worksheet, navigate to the sheet that you want to move or copy
• Now, click on the Home menu and choose the Format option
• Then, select the Move Or Copy Sheet from the Organize Sheets part
• After that, again in the Home menu choose the Format option in the cells group
• Here in the Move Or Copy dialog option, select the target sheet and Excel will only display the open worksheets in the list

• Else, if you want to copy the worksheet instead of moving, then kindly make a copy of the Excel workbook before

• Lastly, select the OK button to copy or move the targeted Excel spreadsheet.

Method #4: How To Copy Data From One Sheet To Another In Excel Using Formula

You can copy data from one sheet to another in Excel using formula. Here are the steps to be followed:

• For copy and paste the Excel cell in the present Excel worksheet, as for example; copy cell A1 to D5, you can just select the destination cell D5, then enter =A1 and press the Enter key to get the A1 value.
• For copying and pasting cells from one worksheet to another worksheet such as copy cell A1 of Sheet1 to D5 of Sheet2, please select the cell D5 in Sheet2, then enter =Sheet1!A1 and press the Enter key to obtain the value.

Method #5: Copy Data From One Excel Sheet To Another Using Macros

With the help of macros, you can copy data from one worksheet to another but before this here are some important tips that you must take care of:

• You should keep the file extension correctly in your Excel workbook.
• It’s not necessary that your spreadsheet should be macro enable for doing the task.
• The code that you choose can also be stored in a different worksheet.
• As the codes already specify the details, so there is no need to activate the Excel workbook or cells first.
• Thus, given below is the code for performing this task.

Sub OpenWorkbook()
‘Open a workbook
‘Open method requires full file path to be referenced.
Workbooks.Open “C:UsersusernameDocumentsNew Data.xlsx”

‘Open method has additional parameters
‘Workbooks.Open(FileName, UpdateLinks, ReadOnly, Format, Password, WriteResPassword, IgnoreReadOnlyRecommended, Origin, Delimiter, Editable, Notify, Converter, AddToMru, Local, CorruptLoad)

End Sub

Sub CloseWorkbook()
‘Close a workbook
Workbooks(“New Data.xlsx”).Close SaveChanges:=True
‘Close method has additional parameters
‘Workbooks.Close(SaveChanges, Filename, RouteWorkbook)

End Sub

Recommended Solution: MS Excel Repair & Recovery Tool

When you are performing your work in MS Excel and if by mistake or accidentally you do not save your workbook data or your worksheet gets deleted, then here we have a professional recovery tool for you, i.e. MS Excel Repair & Recovery Tool.

With the help of this tool, you can easily recover all lost data or corrupted Excel files also. This is a very useful software to get back all types of MS Excel files with ease.

* Free version of the product only previews recoverable data.

Steps to Utilize MS Excel Repair & Recovery Tool:

Conclusion:

Well, I tried my level best to provide the best possible ways to transfer data from one Excel worksheet to another automatically. So from now on, you don’t have to worry about how to copy data from one cell to another in Excel automatically.

I hope you are satisfied with the above methods provided to you about Excel worksheet update.

Thus, make proper use of them and in the future also if you want to know about this, you can take the help of the specified solutions.

Focus on your business

goals while we take care of your data!

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As you use and build more Excel workbooks, you’ll need to link them up. Maybe you want to write formulas that use data between different sheets in a workbook. You can even write formulas that use data from multiple different workbooks.

If I want to keep my files clean and tidy, I’ve found it’s best to separate large sheets of data from the formulas that summarize them. I often use a single workbook or sheet to summarize things. 

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to link data in Excel. First, we’ll learn how to link up data in the same workbook on different sheets. Then, we’ll move on to linking up multiple Excel workbooks to import and sync data between files.

How to Quickly Link Data in Excel Workbooks (Watch & Learn)

I’ll walk you through two examples linking up your spreadsheets. You’ll see how to pull data from another workbook in Excel and keep two workbooks connected. We’ll also walk through a basic example to write formulas between sheets in the same workbook.

Let’s walk through an illustrated guide to linking up your data between sheets and workbooks in Excel.

Basics: How to Link Between Sheets in Excel

Let’s start off by learning how to write formulas using data from another sheet. You probably already know that Excel workbooks can contain multiple worksheets. Each worksheet is a tab of its own, and you can switch tabs by clicking on them at the bottom of Excel.

Complex workbooks can easily grow to many sheets. In time, you’ll certainly need to write formulas to work with data on different tabs.

Maybe you use a single sheet in your workbook for all of your formulas to summarize your data, and separate sheets to hold the original data. 

Let’s learn how to write a multi-sheet formula to work with data from multiple sheets in the same workbook.

1. Start a New Formula in Excel

Most formulas in Excel start off with the equals (=) sign. Double click or start typing in a cell and begin writing the formula that you want to link up. For my example, I’ll write a sum formula to add up several cells.

I’ll open up the = sign, and then click on the first cell on my current sheet to make it the first part of the formula. Then, I’ll type a + sign to add my second cell to this formula.

Now, make sure that you don’t close out your formula and press enter yet! You’ll want to leave the formula open before you switch sheets.

2. Switch Sheets in Excel

While you still have the formula open, click on a different sheet tab at the bottom of Excel. It’s very important that you don’t close out the formula before you click on the next cell to include as part of the formula.

After you switch sheets, click on the next cell that you want to include in the formula. As you can see in the screenshot below, Excel automatically writes the part of the formula that references a cell on another sheet for you.

Notice in the screenshot below that to reference a cell on another sheet, Excel adds «Sheet2!B3», which simply references cell B3 on a sheet named Sheet2. You could write this manually, but clicking on the cells makes Excel write it for you automatically.

3. Finish the Excel Formula

At this point, you can press enter to close out and complete your multi-sheet formula. When you do so, Excel will jump back to where you started the formula and show you the results.

You could also keep writing the formula, including cells from more sheets and other cells on the same sheet. Keep combining those references throughout the workbook for all the data you need.

Level Up: How to Link Multiple Excel Workbooks

Let’s learn how to pull data from another workbook. With this skill, you can write formulas that pull together data from entirely separate Excel workbooks.

For this section of the tutorial, you can use two workbooks that you can download for free as a part of this tutorial. Open them both up in Excel, and follow the directions below.

1. Open Both Workbooks

Let’s start off by writing a formula that includes data from two different workbooks. 

The easiest way to use this feature is to open up two Excel workbooks at the same time and put them side by side. I use the Windows Snap feature to split them to each take up half the screen. You need to keep both workbooks in view to write formulas between them.

In the screenshot below, I’ve opened two workbooks that I’ll write formulas for side-by-side. For my example, I’m running a business that buys a variety of products, and sells them in a variety of countries. So, I’ll use separate workbooks to track my purchases/sales and cost data.

2. Start Writing Your Formula in Excel

The price of what I buy can change, and so can the rate that I receive payments in. I need to keep a lookup list of rates and multiply it times my purchases. This is the perfect time to link two workbooks together and write formulas between them.

Let’s take the number of barrels of oil I buy each month times the price per barrel. In the first Cost cell (cell C3), I’ll start writing a formula by typing the equals sign (=), and then clicking on cell B3 to grab the quantity. Now, I’ll add an * to prepare to multiply the quantity by the rate.

So far, your formula should be:

=B3*

Don’t close out your formula yet. Make sure to leave it open before moving onto the next step; we still need to point Excel to the price data to multiply the quantity by.

3. Switch Excel Workbooks

It’s time to switch workbooks, and this is why it’s important to keep both of your datasets in view while working between workbooks.

With your formula still open, click over to the other workbook. Then, click on a cell in your second workbook to link up the two Excel files.

Excel automatically wrote the reference to a separate workbook as part of the cell formula:

=B3*[Prices.xlsx]Sheet1!$B$2

Once you press Enter, Excel will calculate the final cost by multiplying the quantity in the first workbook times the price in the second workbook.

Now, keep working on your Excel skills by multiplying each of the quantities or values times the reference amounts in the «Prices» workbook.

In short, the key is to get your workbooks open side by side, and simply switch workbooks to write formulas referencing other files.

There’s nothing stopping you from linking up more than two workbooks. You could open many workbooks to link up and write formulas, connecting the data between many sheets to keep cells up to date.

How to Refresh Your Data Between Workbooks

When you’ve written formulas that reference other Excel workbooks, you’ll need to think about how you’ll update your data.

So, what happens when the data changes in the workbook that you’re linking to? Will your workbook automatically update, or will you need to refresh your files to pull over the last data and import it?

The answer is, «it depends», and specifically, it depends upon if both workbooks are still open at the same time.

Example 1: Both Excel Workbooks Still Open

Let’s check out an example using the same workbook from the prior step. Both workbooks are still open. Let’s see what happens when we change the price of oil from $45 per barrel to $75 per barrel:

In the screenshot above, you can see that when we updated the price of oil, the other workbook automatically updated.

This is important to know: if both workbooks are open at the same time, changes will update automatically and in real-time. When you change one variable, the other workbook will update or recalculate based upon the new value.

Example 2: With One Workbook Closed

What if you only open one workbook at a time? For example, each morning, we update prices of our commodities and currencies, and in the evening we review the impact of the change to our purchases and sales.

The next time you open up your workbook that references other sheets, you might get a message similar to the one below. You can click on Update to pull in the latest data from your reference workbook.

You might also see a menu where you can click Enable Content to automate updating data between Excel files.

Recap and Keep Learning More About Excel

Writing formulas between sheets and workbooks is a necessary skill when you work with Microsoft Excel. Using multiple spreadsheets inside your formulas is no problem with a bit of know-how. 

Check out these additional tutorials to learn more about Excel skills and how to work with data. These tutorials are a great way to continue learning Excel.

Let me know in the comments if you have any questions about how to link up your Excel workbooks.

Did you find this post useful?

I believe that life is too short to do just one thing. In college, I studied Accounting and Finance but continue to scratch my creative itch with my work for Envato Tuts+ and other clients. By day, I enjoy my career in corporate finance, using data and analysis to make decisions.

I cover a variety of topics for Tuts+, including photo editing software like Adobe Lightroom, PowerPoint, Keynote, and more. What I enjoy most is teaching people to use software to solve everyday problems, excel in their career, and complete work efficiently. Feel free to reach out to me on my website.

A table in Excel is a complex array with set of parameters. It can consist of values, text cells, formulas and be formatted in various ways (cells can have a certain alignment, color, text direction, special notes, etc.).

When you copy a table, sometimes you do not have to transfer all of its elements, but only some of its. Consider how this can be done.



The past special

It is very convenient to carry out the transfer of the data in the table using the past special. It allows you to select only those parameters that we need when copying. Let’s consider an example.

We have the table with the indicators for the presence of macaroni of certain brands in the warehouse of the store. It is clearly visible, how many kilograms were at the beginning of the month, how much of them were bought and sold, and also the balance at the end of the month. Two important columns are highlighted in different colors. The balance at the end of the month is calculated by the elementary formula.

We will try to use the PAST SPECIAL command and copy all the data.

First we select the existing table, right click the menu and click on COPY.

In the free cell, we call the menu again with the right button and press the PAST SPECIAL.

If we leave everything as is by default and just click OK, the table will be inserted completely, with all its parameters.

Let’s try to experiment. In the PAST SPECIAL we choose another item, for example, FORMULAS. We have already received an unformatted table, but with working formulas.

Now we will insert not the formulas, but only the VALUES of the results of calculations.

That a new table with values to get the appearance similar to the sample, you need to select it and insert the FORMATS using a special insert.

Now let’s try to choose the item WITHOUT FRAME. We got the full table, but only without the allocated borders.

The wholesome advice! To migrate the format along with the size of the columns, you need to select not the range of the source table, but the entire columns (in this case, the A: F range) before the copying.

Similarly, you can experiment with each item of the PAST SPECIAL to see clearly how it works.



Transfer of data to another sheet

Transferring data to other worksheets in the Excel workbook allows you to link multiple tables. This is convenient because when you replace a value on one sheet, the values change on all the others. When creating annual reports, this is an indispensable thing.

Consider how this works. For a start we rename Excel sheets in months. Then, with the helping of the PAST SPECIAL that we already know, we move the table to February and remove the values from the three columns:

1. At the beginning of the month.
2. The incoming.
3. The expense.

The column «At the end of the month» is given by the formula, so when you delete values from the previous columns, it is automatically reset to zero.

We will transfer to the data on the remainder of macaroni of each brand from January to February. This is done in a couple of clicks.

1. On the FEBRUARY sheet we place the cursor in the cell, indicating the amount of macaroni of grade A at the beginning of the month. You can see the picture above — this will be cell D3.
2. We put in this cell to the sign EQUAL.
3. Go to the JANUARY sheet and click on the cell showing the amount of macaroni of grade A at the end of the month (in this case it is cell F2).

We get the following: in the cell C2 the formula was formed, which sends us to the cell F2 of the JANUARY sheet. Stretch the formula down to know the amount of macaroni of each brand at the beginning of February.

Similarly, you can transfer the data to all months and get to the visual annual report.

Data transfer to another file

Similarly, you can transfer data from one file to another one. This book in our example is called EXCEL. Create another one and name it EXAMPLE.

Note. You can create new Excel files even in different folders. The program will automatically search for the specified book, regardless of which folder and on what drive of the computer it is located.

We copy in the book EXAMPLE to the table using the same PAST SPECIAL and again delete the values from the three columns. We will perform the same actions as in the previous paragraph, but we will not go to another sheet, but to another book only.

We have received to the new formula, which shows that the cell refers to the book EXCEL. And we see that the cell =[raports.xlsx]January!F2 looks like =[raports.xlsx]January!$F$2, i. e. it is fixed. And if we want to stretch to the formula in other brands of macaroni, first you need to remove the dollar badges for removing to the commit.

Now you know how to correctly transfer data from tables within one sheet, from one sheet to another, and from one file to another one.

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