How to create Links in MS Excel 2016?

MS Excel allows you to create a link between two worksheets of the same workbook, or between two different workbooks. The beauty behind this linking is that if you modify the original data, you will also experience modification in your linked data as well. In this article, I have explained the steps to create links in MS Excel 2016.

Steps to create Links in MS Excel 2016:

Step 1: Select the range of the cells of which you want to create a link. and copy the selected range of cells.

Here, for demonstration, I copied the data that you can see highlighted by the red box in the picture below, from Workbook “Book1“.

Step 2: Now it is up to you where you want to paste this data to create a  link. You have a choice to paste this data:
To same sheet of the workbook, from where you copied it.
To a different sheet of the same workbook.
To a different workbook.

For demonstration, I opt for a different workbook “Links Test“. Now you must know how to paste the data to create a link.

For that, select a cell on the sheet where you want to paste your data and click on the down arrow of Paste button present under Clipboard group of Home tab. Among the offered options click on Paste Special...

Step 3: A Paste Special dialog box will pop up. Click on the Paste Link button, present at the bottom of the dialog box. This will paste your copied data to your selected location.

So the data I copied from Book1 workbook is now pasted to Links Test workbook.

Step 4: Time to check whether we succeeded in establishing a link between the two data; the original data that you copied and the data that you pasted.

For demonstration, I select a cell (Meridian) from Links Test workbook, where I pasted my data. Observe its Formula bar; you can view the link, which expresses the source of the selected cell’s data.

Like it expresses that the selected cell data is linked to cell D4, in Sheet1 of Book1 workbook.

Step 5: To experience the working of links, let us modify a cell in a referenced data i.e. your original data. Like I modified the city of Jim Taw from Columbus to Paris in Book1 workbook.

Step 6: Now check referencing data, you will find it to be modified. Look at the picture below you will find the city of Jim Taw is also modified to Paris in Workbook “Links Test“.

Thank you. Keep reading.