Referencing Other Documents

[hepburn94]

good evening folks,

i am curious as to if there is a way to input a number inside of a1 on document 1, reference it to document 2 but instead of referencing to a1 only, i would like for it to be an expandable option for a1 to a100?

in document 1, i have a box thats located at a1. in document 2, i have 10 boxes with numbers and right next to them, i have names. i would like to input the number "2" inside document 1 - a1 and have document 1 reference document 2 and find number "2" and reference/transfer the name over to document 1.

is this possible? if confused, please let me know!

[robleyd]

By "box" can we assume you mean a cell in a spreadsheet?

Are "'document1" and "document2" different sheets in the same spreadsheet file, or are they two separate spreadsheet files?

The VLOOKUP function may be a possible solution, depending...

[hepburn94]

I guess I was NOT as descriptive as I could have been.

Correct, by "box' I mean cell.

document 1 and document 2 are different save files, both have different names (two separate spreadsheet files).

Im trying to find the name that matches "2" on document 2. i could search for it myself but the process will be repeated roughly 20-230 times a day and would take hours (ideally, the numbers are over 10000 each)

[robleyd]

This sounds like a problem for a database

However, for a spreadsheet solution, VLOOKUP would possibly serve the purpose for you. Attached are two spreadsheet files, document1.ods and document2.ods. Document1 has only four cells populated; in Row 1 there are headers; in A2 you enter the number you want to look up and the corresponding name will be displayed in B2.

You will probably need to edit the link in document1.ods'#$Sheet1.B2 to reflect the path on your computer to document2 as the path to the file will be different from that on my Linux system.

If this doesn't solve your problem, perhaps you could elaborate a bit more on exactly what you are trying to achieve.

[jrkrideau]

I would second robleyd's suggestion of a database or perhaps some other tool (Python perhaps, going from what I have read about it?). The potential for error in a spreadsheet with a data set this large is amazing high, especially if there will be more than one user.

[hepburn94]

Any chance you would be able to direct me to how to set-up the database? I have never used that and this might help me. Thanks!