Insights

If you are working with dozens of worksheets that are formatted in identical fashion (think of a company that has multiple locations with the same line items), then the ability to list all of these worksheets on one tab can be extremely helpful. As you will see in the template available for download, this permits retreiving data with the =INDIRECT function from each individual worksheet.

Occasionally when you are working with a lot of tabs it helps to have a reference to the tab name on the worksheet. An example might be a workbook containing financials for 100 restaurants.

Tips for working with data across multiple worksheets in the same Excel workbook.
The single biggest requirement to make maximum use of these tricks is to have all of your data laid out in identical format across tabs.

The =INDIRECT function permits referencing information in a workbook using strings of text. This can be a very handy tool when you want to create dynamic references in formulas without changing the formulas themselves. It is also a terrific way to reference data on different worksheets.

This video explains how to use SUMIF and the INDEX + MATCH function combination in Excel to dynamically reference columns in a financial model. This has been particularly useful to me when I am organizing a company’s data by location or product category.