Referencing other documents

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John decides to keep his family account information in a different spreadsheet file from his own summary. Fortunately Calc can link different files together. The process is the same as described for different sheets in a single spreadsheet, but we add one more parameter to indicate which file the sheet is in.

Creating the reference with the mouse

To create the reference with the mouse, both spreadsheets need to be open. Select the cell in which the formula is going to be entered.

  1. Click the = icon next to the input line.
  2. Switch to the other spreadsheet (the process to do this will vary depending on which operating system you are using).
  3. Select the sheet (Savings account) and then the reference cell (F3).
    Selecting the savings account reference cell
  4. Switch back to the original spreadsheet.
  5. Click on the green check mark on the input line.

Your spreadsheet should now resemble the figure below.

Linked files

You will get a good feel for the format of the reference if you look closely at the input line. Based on this line you can create the reference using the keyboard.

Creating the reference with the keyboard

Typing the reference is simple once you know the format the reference takes. The reference has three parts to it:

  • Path and file name
  • Sheet name
  • Cell

Looking at the figure above, you can see the the general format for the reference is

=’file:///Path & File Name’#$SheetName.CellName.

Documentation note.png The reference for a file has three forward slashes /// and the reference for a hyperlink has two forward slashes //.


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