data transferring

[jack1322]

hi i have a question about transfering data from one file to another. Im doing inventory for work and we just created a new one and the numbers arent the same because of only using the older one. is there a way that i can have the numbers change if i enter data into one file automatically to the other? thanks

 

[Smitty]

Welcome to the Board!

How do you match the old numbers to the new ones?

You might want to take a look at VLOOKUP.

If you have a master table of part numbers (old & new) you can reference the table, and vlookup will work across workbooks if you wanted to keep that data separate.

HTH,

 

[jack1322]

really all im trying to do is keep the numbers of the items we have on stock the same between the two files so i dont manually have to go through and check each one individually

 

[Smitty]

VLOOKUP would be perfect for that. Although if you're careful you could use direct linking. With both workbooks open, in the dependent workbook select a starting cell, enter =, then ALT+Tab to its source in the primary workbook. Excel will create the formula for you (note that it will give you absolute refereces so you'll need to change that). From there you can copy and paste the rest.

Just note that this is by no means a foolproof method as there's no error checking to make sure you linked the right cells. That's where VLOOKUP comes in handy, because it will let you know if you don't have a match.