Linking two spreadsheets together

To create a one-way link from a spreadsheet called accounts to a cell, say B10, in a spreadsheet called sales, follow these steps:

  1. Select a cell in accounts where you'd like the value from sales to appear, say A1.

  2. Click in the formula entry line.

  3. Click on the Insert Function button image\function.gif to bring up the "Insert Function" dialog.

  4. Click on the Remote tab and scroll through to select the SSGET function.

  5. Select OK to pick the function.

  6. Enter the function parameters so that the formula appears as follows:

     =SSGET ("sales", "B10").

  7. Click image\confirm.gif to finish the formula.

Ability will display the value from the sales spreadsheet inside the accounts spreadsheet.

Once the link has been made, the cell can be referenced like any other. For example, the formula

=A1 * 2

anywhere in the accounts spreadsheet will simply display the value from A1, originally from sales, doubled.

You can also use the SSGET function directly as part of a formula. For example:

=(10 + SSGET("sales", "B10"))/2

Note that the function parameters must be placed in quotation marks. Also, the example assumes that the two spreadsheet documents are in the same folder. If they are not, then you must specify the full document path. For example,

=SSGET("c:\my documents\sales", "B10")

if sales is stored in the default document folder.

Any change made to B10 in sales will automatically be reflected in A1 of accounts. However, since this is a one-way link, the attempt to enter a value in A1 of sales will overwrite the link formula and hence destroy the link (see Two-way links to find out how to set up two-way links).