How to Use Google Sheet: How to use Importrange in GoogleSheets
In GoogleSheet, data is king. For this reason, There’s always need to move data from one sheet to another. For this, Google allows you to move data across sheets in the same spreadsheet, using the A1 notation.
What happens if you want to transfer data from one spreadsheet to another? This is where Importrange
comes in.
In this article, we will explore Importrange and how we use the Importrange formula in GoogleSheet.
Importrange Syntax
The syntax for the importrange formula is shown below:
IMPORTRANGE(spreadsheet_url, range_string)
Just like other Spreadsheet formulas, you’ll need to place an equal sign before the Importrange formula =IMPORTRANGE(spreadsheet_url, range_string)
.
Spreadsheet_url
This is the url
of the Spreadsheet containing the data of interest. For instance, if we want to copy data in cell A from Spreadsheet 1
to cell A in Spreadsheet 2
, Spreadsheet 1
contains the data of interest, its url is the Spreadsheet_url. This url
must either be in quotation marks or a reference to the cell containing the url.
Range_string
The Range string is the range to import, in string format. The range is usually in A1 notation.
From our example above, if we’re copying from the first cell in Spreadsheet 1
the notation will be A1
. If we’re copying across multiple cells, the range could be A1:B2
.
What happens if you have multiple sheets in your Spreadsheet? You will have to include the sheet name to the range string. For instance, if we have a sheet with the name Transactions
, our range string will be: Transactions!A1
. If you don’t include the sheet name of interest, GoogleSheet will copy from the first sheet in the Spreadsheet.
Examples
In this section, we will explore how to import data across sheet with the Importrange function.
I have a Spreadsheet with url:
If we want to retrieve the total equity from this sheet (D24
) into a new empty sheet, here’s how we can do it.
We have our function as:
=IMPORTRANGE("https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oO9_bpFForllo0XtTFYTLcw3hTJ-sul6Y8EnQSkHLVM/edit#gid=0", "Balance Sheet!D24")
Now, we’ll paste the function above into the cell of our choice in our Sheet to get the data displayed.
Remember to give access the first time trying to get data from another Spreadsheet.
After giving access, the data is successfully copied.
Conclusion
In this article, we have explored copying data from one Spreadsheet to another using the Importrange function.
GoogleSheet is an important tool when it comes to managing and processing data. For instance, teams utilise GoogleSheet for bookkeeping and other accounting functions. For this reason, we have built the PayTrack tool for accounting.
Give PayTrack a try today! Enjoy our invoicing and bookkeeping automation software.
We’re starting a discord community for users who love to perform bookkeeping in a spreadsheet, you can join.