link cells of two file.numbers

Hello.

I disagree, sometimes you need to make links and the user has to be responsable for keeping files in order.

For example i have a file with a price list, an another file with budget so im forced to add the price list has a sheet on a master file, but if a price changed or if i simply want to look (may be giving info by phone) i would have to access the master file (named budget) instead of open the file "price list".

is like telling a software programer, put all you work in one file....

if you think is not a good idea, don't do it, the software must have the option. Microsoft Excel is way beyond. it my opinion.

personally im going back to Excel, because in numbers im very limited on functions.

Hi Polo,

"personally im going back to Excel, because in numbers im very limited on functions."

The design goals for MS Excel and Numbers are obviously very different, as are the target markets for each.

If Excel has, and Numbers does not have, functions that you depend on, then Numbers is not the tool for the job you need to do. That's a pretty simple decision. "The option" does not need to exist in every application; "the option" is available to every user: Choose the tool that's best for the job.

Regards,

Barry

Polo from chile wrote:

i have a file with a price list, an another file with budget so im forced to add the price list has a sheet on a master file

Why not have a sheet (tab) with a price list and another sheet with a budget, all in the same document? You can have many budget sheets if you want, and you can have many tables on each budget sheet.

SG

As of now, it is not possible in numbers. However, the option of sending two different files should be given to the user. This particular facility which is available in excel gives enormous freedom when you have a master price list and linked cost list files. copying master data sheet into every dependent data sheet is cumbersome. Apple can rethink.

Hi chennaigiri,

We're fellow users here. To make suggestions to Apple you can go to Numbers > Provide Numbers Feedback in your menu.

My personal preference: if I have to make a choice between "enormous freedom" and reliability, I'll choose reliability, in both Excel and Numbers. I don't like having to deal with the broken links that almost always eventually result from formulas in Excel that refer to other documents. So I avoid them.

For me it's easy to keep a master price list in a separate document and copy the list as needed into other documents. The list is easily updated in a document via a copy-paste or, if there are frequent changes, via a script.

SG

SGIII,

I fully agree.

To make your comment even more specific:

In Numbers it is so easy to copy a sheet from one document and paste this sheet in another document.

Other sheets in the second document can then refer to the pasted sheet (or rather to cells in tables of the pasted sheet).

Paul.

Numbers formulas can't make references to other Numbers documents, only other tables within the same document (on the same sheet or on different sheets).

AppleScript can bring in values from other documents, but often is not practical for this particular purpose.

In general you may find it convenient in Numbers to use multiple tables per sheet and have several sheets.

SG

That is silly that Numbers can not link to other files. Excel does this as one of it's basic functions.

You are going to have multiple files so you should be able to link to cells in other files.

How do we get Apple to keep up with Microsoft?

You can make suggestions using the Numbers menu item "Numbers > Provide Numbers Feedback", however, I, personally, do not think references to other files is a good idea.

1) Often the file gets moved, and then the reference is no good.

2) The dependency of one file on another means that you cannot send just one file

It is better (and mostly why Apple chose this path) to encapsulate all the data in a single file separated by tables or sheets.

We can assist you in designing a good Numbers document

All the best,

Further to Wayne's comment, I use Excel a lot and never link between workbooks (documents). Sooner or later those links seem to get broken and I waste time trying to reconstruct them.

I suspect the ability to link between documents (files) evolved in the days when Excel only supported one sheet per document. Ever since the introduction (a long time ago) of multi-sheet workbooks, rarely does one need to refer to another workbook. Just organize work so that it is contained in different sheets in the same document.

Numbers is even more amenable than Excel to keeping work together in one document. That's because Numbers makes it so easy to have multiple tables in the same sheet. (Excel can do that too but tables, which are optional in Excel but mandatory in Numbers, aren't as easy in Excel to use on the same sheet with other tables because they have to "line up in the grid" whereas Numbers tables can be placed anywhere on a sheet's "canvas.") Multiple tables to a sheet in a document with several sheets gives plenty of power without having to depend on links easily broken.

SG

Hi Komostk,

I remember the many times when some clown would send me an Excel document, but forgot to include the other documents that it linked to. A sure way to get data that won't update. Corrupt data is useless. I wonder how many projects have been compromised because of that? How many wrong conclusions have been made? All data within a single document allows updates and exchanges.

Please reply with your overall aim.There are many helpful users in this forum.

Regards,

Ian

Numbers documents have to be compatible — this means have to work on OS/X as well as on iOS.

Two completely different operating systems with completely different file directory organisations.