Linking text boxes

A trick to allow copying between sheets

Linking to a text box in a sheet is straightforward, unless you want to copy that linked text box to another sheet and retain the link. Here is how you do it.

Standard Technique

To link to a text box you click the text box and then click in the Formula Bar and press = and then click the cell to link to and press Enter.

This works OK on the sheet but if you copy the text box to another sheet it links to the same cell in the other sheet. If that’s what you want, great. If it isn’t then you need to use this technique.

Text box copy technique

Click the text box click in the Formula Bar and press = then instead of clicking on the current sheet click on another sheet tab and click a cell in another sheet then return to the current sheet and then click the cell you actually want to link to and press Enter.

By doing it this way the sheet name is included in the link and that ensures the link is kept when you copy the text box to another sheet.

You could also manually type the sheet name into the Formula Bar, but using the mouse is much easier.

The Art of Possibility (2002)

A great book to help you think about things a little differently and hopefully act a little differently too.

Some great ideas and stories, highly recommend.

Many examples relate to music and musicians, but the practices apply to everyone.

I listened to the audio book version which had the added benefit of music.