Referencing value in a closed Excel workbook using INDIRECT?

Question

I want to refer to a cell value in another closed workbook with a formula (not VBA!). The Sheet name is stored as a variable (in the following example, C13 is "Sheet2").

If the other file is open, then following works:

=INDIRECT("[myExcelFile.xlsm]" & C13 & "!$A$1")

If the file is closed, the above formula doesn't work, as there is no absolute path given. But I got it work with following (give attention to ' instead of ":

='C:\data\[myExcelFile.xlsm]Sheet2'!$A$1

Now I want to replace the hardcoded "Sheet2" with a dynamic referenced value, means with C13 (as seen in the first code snippet).

Does anybody know a solution without using VBA or other libraries?

Answer 1

There is definitively no way to do this with standard formulas. However, a crazy sort of answer can be found here. It still avoids VBA, and it will allow you to get your result dynamically.

1. First, make the formula that will generate your formula, but don't add the = at the beginning!

2. Let us pretend that you have created this formula in cell B2 of Sheet1, and you would like the formula to be evaluated in column c.

3. Now, go to the Formulas tab, and choose "Define Name". Give it the name myResult (or whatever you choose), and under Refers To, write =evaluate(Sheet1!$B2) (note the $)

4. Finally, go to C2, and write =myResult. Drag down, and... voila!

Answer 2

The problem is that a link to a closed file works with index( but not with index(indirect(

It seems to me that it is a programming issue of the index function. I solved it with a if clause row

C2=sheetname
if(c2=Sheet1,index(sheet1....),if(C2="Sheet2",index(sheet2....

I did it over five sheets, it's a long formula, but does what I need.

Answer 3

I too was looking for the answer to referencing cells in a closed workbook. Here is the link to the solution (correct formula) below. I have tried it on my current project (referencing a single cell and an array of cells) and it works well with no errors. I hope it helps you.

https://www.extendoffice.com/documents/excel/4226-excel-reference-unopened-file.html

In the formula, E:\Excel file\ is the full file path of the unopened workbook, test.xlsx is the name of the workbook, Sheet2 is the sheet name which contains the cell value you need to reference from, and A:A,2,1 means the cell A2 will be referenced in the closed workbook. You can change them based on your needs.

If you want to manually select a worksheet to reference, please use this formula

=INDEX('E:\Excel file\[test.xlsx]sheetname'!A:A,2,1)

After applying this formula, you will get a Select Sheet dialog box, please select a worksheet and then click the OK button. Then the certain cell value of this worksheet will be referenced immediately.

Answer 4

Check INDEX Function:

=INDEX('C:\path\[file.xlsm]Sheet1'!A10:B20;1;1)

Answer 5

In Excel 2016 at least, you can use INDIRECT with a full path reference; the entire reference (including sheet name) needs to be enclosed by ' characters.

So this should work for you:

= INDIRECT("'C:\data\[myExcelFile.xlsm]" & C13 & "'!$A$1")

Note the closing ' in the last string (ie '!$A$1 surrounded by "")

Answer 6

Thank you for the great question. I want to clarify and second the solution posted by Philipp. The solution does the following:

1. Updates data from a closed Excel file, and
2. Does so "dynamically" (though not exactly - you'll see)

In his answer above, Philipp said: "The problem is that a link to a closed file works with index( but not with index(indirect("

I believe this is still true. (I'm using Office 365 here in March of 2021. It would be so nice if Microsoft allowed INDIRECT and INDEX to play nicely together with closed files!)

I can confirm that Philipp's workaround indeed works, practically speaking. From the user's point of view, it feels like what Chris, the OP, wants to do.

Let's say you want the contents of a given cell to be drawn from Sheet1, Sheet2 or Sheet3, which are from a closed file myExcelFile.xlsm. You will choose which sheet by changing the contents of a particular cell (C13, as in the OP Chris's question). One way to do this is to make it a drop-down list (using Data > Data Validation > Allow [List]). The list will have the following names:

Sheet1 Sheet2 Sheet3

(This will generalize without the drop-down list. For example, you can just type "Sheet2" into C13, and the relevant data from the closed file will appear; if you then type "Sheet3" then the data from that sheet will appear instead. Or you can have a column with the sheet names, and the next column over [with the formula below, adjusted] for the output from the closed file.)

The cell that will contain the referenced data from the other, closed sheet (myExcelFile.xlsm) will have:

=IFS(
C13="Sheet1",'C:\data\[myExcelFile.xlsm]Sheet1'!$A$1,
C13="Sheet2",'C:\data\[myExcelFile.xlsm]Sheet2'!$A$1,
C13="Sheet3",'C:\data\[myExcelFile.xlsm]Sheet3'!$A$1
)

And that's it.

It'll throw up a #REF error the first time you do this with myExcelFile.xlsm closed, but you can go to Data > Queries & Connections > Edit Links > Update Values and your values from the closed file should appear. (Personally, I set up a macro with a button to do the updating, instead of hunting through the menus.) The magic is that when you do Update Values, the data from all of the sheets in the closed file get loaded into the current Excel file - so you don't have to update every time you switch the reference to a different sheet (Sheet2 to Sheet3, for example).

Andrew

Answer 7

=INDIRECT("'C:\Data["&A8&"]SheetNAME'!$G9")

where A8 contains myExcelFile.xlsm

and G9 contains your source workbook precious data.

Answer 8

OK,

Here's a dinosaur method for you on Office 2010.

Write the full address you want using concatenate (the "&" method of combining text).

Do this for all the addresses you need. It should look like:

="="&"'\FULL NETWORK ADDRESS including [Spreadsheet Name]"&W3&"'!$w4"

The W3 is a dynamic reference to what sheet I am using, the W4 is the cell I want to get from the sheet.

Once you have this, start up a macro recording session. Copy the cell and paste it into another. I pasted it into a merged cell and it gave me the classic "Same size" error. But one thing it did was paste the resulting text from my concatenate (including that extra "=").

Copy over however many you did this for. Then, go into each pasted cell, select he text and just hit enter. It updates it to an active direct reference.

Once you have finished, put the cursor somewhere nice and stop the macro. Assign it to a button and you are done.

It is a bit of a PITA to do this the first time, but once you have done it, you have just made the square peg fit that daamned round hole.

Answer 9

This seems to work with closed file: add a pivot table (rows, tabular layout, no subtotals, no grand totals) of the source to the current workbook, then reference all you want from that pivot table, INDIRECT, LOOKUPs,...

Answer 10

If you know the number of sheet you want to reference you can use below function to find out the name. Than you can use it in INDIRECT funcion.

Public Function GETSHEETNAME(address As String, Optional SheetNumber As Integer = 1) As String

    Set WS = GetObject(address).Worksheets
    GETSHEETNAME = WS(SheetNumber).Name

End Function

This solution doesn't require referenced workbook to be open - Excel gonna open it by itself (but it's gonna be hidden).

Answer 11

I was disappointed so I made the following workaround:

1. I created my INDIRECT commands and stored them just outside the desired range. Of course I get errors when the source workbook is closed but they light up when it's open.
2. So I open the source workbook temporarily.
3. Then I created a macro that copies the INDIRECT formulas from outside the range and pastes them inside the range. All cells are filled in with the right values.
4. The macro then copy-pastes the values of the range to the range on top of themselves. This deletes the formulas but keeps their values.
5. Then I close the source workbook. My values stay intact where I want them and my INDIRECT formulas stay just outside the desired range in case I want to refresh them by repeating the procedure!

This workaround saves me the error of the indirect formulas when the source workbook is closed, and most importantly it saves a lot of time in recalculations!

Hope this works for you too!