How to Link Files in Excel (5 Different Approaches)

While working with Excel, sometimes we need some reference data from other link files. It’s a usual use case that’s also rather simple to implement. In this article, we will demonstrate some approaches to link files in excel.

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5 Different Approaches to Link Files in Excel

We can avoid having the same data in many sheets by using external cell references, or links. This saves time, cuts down on errors, and ensures reliability. Microsoft Excel can link files to cells in one workbook or cells in other workbooks or other files or images in the same or different workbooks. So, let’s see some approaches to link files in excel.

1. Link to a New File in Excel

Suppose we want to create a new file in Excel. For this, we are using the dataset below which contains some product names in column B and their prices in column C, and we want to link the details files of the products in column D. We can create a new document whose name will be Product, we can do this by just following some simple steps below.

STEPS:

• First, select the cell where you want to create the new file to link with excel.
• Second, go to the Insert tab from the ribbon.
• Next, click on the Link drop-down menu bar under the Table category.
• After that, click on the Insert Links.

• Or, instead of doing this, you can just right-click on the required cell and select Link.

• This will open a dialog box, name Insert Hyperlink.
• Now, in the Link to section, click on Create New Document.
• After that, under Name of new document text box, write the name of the document you want to create. We want to create a document name Product, so we write Product.
• Then, click on the OK button.

• If you wish to change the location of the document you just created. Go to Change which is on the right side under the Full path section.

• This will make the new document an HTML file.

• In the When to edit section, you can choose when you want to edit the document.

• With the Text to display box, put the text you want to use to symbolize the link in the box.

• And, this will create the link file in the cell.

Read More: How to Link Sheets to a Master Sheet in Excel (5 Ways)

2. Link Microsoft Files

In Excel, we can link all the Microsoft files like word files, excel files, or pdf files to our spreadsheet. Excel allows linking any kind of file to the worksheet to make our daily work more efficient. For this, we have a dataset that contains some article names in column C and we wish to link the destination of all those articles in column D. Let’s go through the procedure of how we can link files in our spreadsheet.

STEPS:

• Firstly, select the cell where you want to put the linked file.
• Second, from the ribbon, select the Insert tab.
• Then, under the Table category, click the Link drop-down menu bar.
• After that, select Insert Links from the drop-down menu.
• Alternatively, you can simply right-click and select Link.

• This will bring up the Insert Hyperlink dialog box.
• Now, to link any files just click on the Existing File or Web Page under the Link to section.
• Next, click on Current Folder.
• After that, select the file you want to link up with your excel sheet. The file location will be shown in the Address text box.
• At this time, in the Text to display box, type the text that you want to denote the link in the excel file.
• Then, click OK.

• And, there you go! The link files are in your spreadsheet now. Just clicking on the cells will take you to the files.

• By following the same procedures, you can link any doc file or, pdf file in your excel sheet.

Read More: How to Link Word Document to Excel (2 Easy Methods)

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3. Excel Sheet Files Adding in Excel

To link a sheet file to another sheet in the same workbook we can easily do this by using the HYPERLINK function in Excel. For this, we are using a dataset that contains the total monthly expenses of two months. First, let’s get the idea of the HYPERLINK function in Excel.

The function assists in data linkage across multiple documents.

➧ Syntax

The syntax for the HYPERLINK function is:

HYPERLINK(link_location,[friendly_name])

➧ Arguments

link _location: [required] This is the location of the file, page, or document to be opened.

friendly_name: [optional] This is the text string or numerical value that appears in the cell as a link.

➧ Return Value

A hyperlink that can be clicked on.

Now let’s see how to use the function to link files in Excel.

The following picture is the data file on sheet1. We want to link the file to another sheet of the workbook. Let’s see the steps to do this.

STEPS:

• In the beginning, select the cell where you want to link the other sheet file. We want to link the sheet in cell C3. So, we select cell C3.
• Then, write down the formula below.

• Finally, press Enter.

Here, #Sheet1!A1 indicates the link location and we want the sheet name as the friendly name so that it will be easier to understand where to go.

Read More: How to Link Sheets in Excel with a Formula (4 Methods)

4. Link Web Pages to Excel File

To link web files to excel files we will use the HYPERLINK function again. So, let’s have a look at the following steps to link a web page in an excel file.

STEPS:

• Likewise, the previous method selects the cell where we want to link the web file/page. So we select cell D5.
• After selecting the cell, write down the formula below.

• Then, press Enter.

As the link location is in cell C5 and we want the friendly name as the web page name itself, we take cell B5 as the friendly name.

• Finally, by following the method we can link any web page to our excel file.

Read More: How to Link Cell to Another Sheet in Excel (7 Methods)

Similar Readings

• How to Reference Worksheet Name in Formula in Excel (3 Easy Ways)
• Link Data in Excel from One Sheet to Another 
• How to reference cell in another Excel sheet based on cell value
• How to Create Reference with Another Workbook in Excel (5 Ways)

5. Image File Linking in Excel

It’s very useful to link an image file to our spreadsheet. To do this, let’s follow the procedure down.

STEPS:

• Similarly, by the same token as earlier methods, to begin, pick the cell where you want to link a new file to Excel.
• Then, select the Insert tab on the ribbon.
• Under the Table category, select the Link drop-down menu bar.
• Afterward, select Insert Links from the drop-down menu.
• Additionally, you can simply right-click and select Link.

• This will appear in the Insert Hyperlink dialog box.
• To link an image file, go to the Link to section and choose Existing File or Web Page.
• After that, select Current Folder.
• Next, select the image file you wish to link to your excel sheet. In the Address text field, the image file path will be displayed.
• Type the text you want to use to identify the link in the excel file in the Text to display box at this time.
• Then click on OK.

Conclusion

The above ways assist you to link files in Excel. Hope this will help you! If you have any questions, suggestions, or feedback please let us know in the comment section. Or you can have a glance at our other articles in the ExcelDemy.com blog!

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