Microsoft Office

Introducing Formulas and Functions 11
If the workbook name in the reference includes one or more spaces, you must enclose it (and the sheet
name) in single quotation marks. For example, here’s a formula that refers to a cell on Sheet1 in a workbook
named Budget For 2008:
=A1*’[Budget For 2008.xlsx]Sheet1’!A1
When a formula refers to cells in a different workbook, the other workbook doesn’t have to be open. If the
workbook is closed, however, you must add the complete path to the reference so that Excel can find it.
Here’s an example:
=A1*’C:\My Documents\[Budget For 2008.xlsx]Sheet1’!A1
A linked file can also reside on another system that’s accessible on your corporate network. The formula
below, for example, refers to a cell in a workbook in the files directory of a computer named DataServer.
=’\\DataServer\files\[budget.xlsx]Sheet1’!$D$7
CROSS-REF
Refer to Chapter 27 for more information about linking workbooks.
TIP
To create formulas that refer to cells not in the current worksheet, point to the cells rather
than entering their references manually. Excel takes care of the details regarding the workbook
and worksheet references. The workbook you’re referencing in your formula must be open if you’re going to
use the pointing method.
If you point to a different worksheet or workbook when creating a formula, you’ll notice that
Excel always inserts absolute cell references. Therefore, if you plan to copy the formula to
other cells, make sure that you change the cell references to relative before you copy.
NOTE
Using Formulas In Tables
One of the most significant new features in Excel 2007 is its support for tables. In this section I describe
how formulas work with tables.
CROSS-REF
See Chapter 6 for an introduction to the new table features.
Summarizing data in a table
Figure 11.10 shows a simple table with three columns. I entered the data, and then converted the range to a
table by choosing Insert ➪ Tables ➪ Table. Note that I didn’t define any names, but the table is named
Table1 by default.
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