Linking Excel Files with "Paste Special"

There are times when you need to have the value in a cell in one Excel worksheet be updated automatically when data changes in another worksheet. To do this, you use "Paste Special".

First, open both the source data worksheet and the target data worksheet (the worksheet in which you resulting updated value to appear.)

Then, select the cell in the source data worksheet that contains the value you wish to include in the target worksheet. Go up to "Edit" and down to "Copy".

The, select the cell in the target data worksheet that will contain the resulting value. Go up to "Edit" and down to "Paste Special". A dialogue box will pop up allowing you to choose a number of options for how the value is pasted. Click the "Paste Link" button. This will paste the resulting value, but will also maintain a link with the original, source data worksheet. If the value ever changes in the source data worksheet, it will automatically be updated in the target data worksheet.