Microsoft® Excel 2007: link and unlink content between two workbooks

Have you ever worked in one workbook and wished that you could refer to the contents located in an entirely different workbook? Well, you can! To do so, you need to create a link between the workbooks. In this demonstration, you'll learn how to link and unlink data between workbooks. It starts with two workbook files already open.

First, select the cell whose value you want to link into the other workbook.

Then, right-click the cell to open its shortcut menu......select Copy.

You can also press Control-C to copy the cell's contents instead of using the right-click command.

Now, switch to the other open workbook by selecting Switch Windows, then click the name of the workbook you want to view.

Click where you want to paste the link.

Click the Home tab, then click the arrow on the Paste button to open the Paste menu.

Select Paste Special.

The Paste Special dialog box opens.

Click the Paste Link button. The link is then pasted into the cell.

You can see the link reference in the formula bar.

To test the link, switch back to the other workbook.

Click the Operations tab......then change one of the values on which the linked value depends. (In this case, we'll change 199 to 200, as shown.)

Switch back to the other workbook to see if the linked value changes.

As you can see, the value has changed from 6675 to 6676.

If you want to send a workbook to someone else who doesn't have access to the linked workbook, you'll want to first unbreak the link, or the other person will receive an error when they try to open the workbook.

Next you'll see how to break a link.

Click the Microsoft Office button.

Point to Prepare.

Click Edit Links to Files.

The Edit Links dialog box appears. Select the link to break (if it's not already selected).

Click the Break Link button.

A confirmation dialog box appears. To break the link, click the Break Links button.

Then click Close on the Edit Links dialog box.

To verify that the link has been broken, switch back to the other workbook.

Again, change a value on which the copied formula depends.

Switch back to the other workbook.

The value has not changed because the link between the two workbooks no longer exists.

The cell now contains a fixed value rather than a formula.

In this demonstration, you learned how to link and unlink data between two workbooks. Use links when you want to maintain information in a single workbook, but also use the information located in other workbooks. You also can unbreak links when you no longer want the two workbooks associated.