LESSON – 6
LINKING SPREADSHEET DATA NOTES
1. Inserting new sheet in spread sheet:
In LibreOffice Calc, by default there is only one sheet but we can insert
multiple sheets. There are 3 ways to insert new sheet.
a) Sheet > Insert sheet
b) Click on Add new sheet icon (+) sign located on the sheet tab of the spread
sheet.
c) Right click anywhere on the sheet tab and select insert sheet option from
the drop-down list.
2. Insert Sheet From File option:
It is also possible to insert a sheet from another file. The From File
option of insert sheet dialog box allows us to insert sheet from
another file as well.
Steps to insert sheet From File option:
✓ Sheet > Insert Sheet > From File
✓ Browse > File Selection dialog box > Select the file
✓ After selecting the file, the sheets contained in it are displayed in
the list box. Select the sheet to be inserted from the list box.
✓ Check the link checkbox to ensure that the changes made in the
selected sheet are reflected.
✓ Click ok.
NOTE:
✓ You could have also copied and pasted data but linking a sheet allows us to
always have access to “LIVE” data from another spread sheet.
✓ A “LIVE” data means that the data is always the same as in the original file.
3. Creating reference to other sheets by using keyboard and Mouse:
A cell reference refers to a cell or a range of cells on a worksheet and
can be used to find the values or data that you want formula to
calculate.
CREATING REFERENCE USING KEYBOARD:
=$SheetName.CellReference
Ex:
=$sheet1.B2
OR
=$’sheet1’.B2
NOTE:
▪ The sheet name will be in single quotes, if it contains a space,
and the mandatory period (.) always falls outside any quotes.
✓ Typing the reference is simple once you know the format the reference
takes.
✓ The reference has three parts to it:
o Path and file name
o Sheet name
o Cell
SYNTAX:
=’file: ///Path & File Name’#$SheetName.CellName
Example:
=’file:///C:/Userts/Admin/Documents/analysis’#$Solver.b3
STEPS:
✓ Click the = icon next to the formula bar.
✓ Switch to the other spread sheet.
✓ Select the sheet and then the reference cell.
✓ Switch back to the original spread sheet.
✓ Click on the green check mark on the formula bar.
CREATING REFERENCE USING MOUSE:
STEPS:
✓ Click on the =icon next to the formula bar.
✓ Click on the sheet tab for the sheet containing the cell to be referenced.
✓ Select the cell, to be reference and click the green checkmark in the formula
bar to finish.
✓ Sometimes we may intend to reference sheets stored in another spread sheet
file.
✓ To create the reference with the mouse, both spread sheets need to be open.
✓ Select the cell in which the formula is going to be entered.
4. HYPERLINKS TO THE SHEET
Hyperlinks can be either absolute or relative. An absolute hyperlink stores the
complete location where the file is stored. So, if the file is removed from the
location, absolute hyperlink will not work. For ex,
C:\Users\Admin\Downloads\solver.ods is an absolute link as it defines the complete
path of the file.
A relative hyperlink stores the location with respect to the current location. For ex,
Admin\Downloads\solver.ods is a relative hyperlink as it is dependent on the current
location. If the complete folder containing the active spreadsheet is moved the
relative link will still be accessible as it is bound to the source folder where the active
spreadsheet is stored.
STEPS TO CREATE HYPERLINKS
✓ Open the spread sheet document.
✓ Insert > Hyperlink > Hyperlink dialog box (Ctrl + K)
✓ Click on the document on the left pan of dialog box. Click on the button
located after the path. Select the required document.
✓ Click on the Target button to choose the sheet which is to be
hyperlinked.
✓ Click on Apply and close button.
✓ Enter the text in the Text box to assign the hyperlink to that text.
✓ Click on apply and close button.
NOTE:
To open the hyperlinked sheet, press the ctlr key and click on the hyperlinked
word, the sheet will be opened in the new window.
5. EDITING HYPERLINK
To edit an existing link, place the cursor anywhere in the link. Right click and
choose Edit hyperlink, the hyperlink dialog box will be displayed, where we can do
required changes in the hyperlink.
6. REMOVING A HYPERLINK
On clicking the Remove Hyperlink option, the link will be removed from the
text and thus it will not point to any other location.
7. LINKING TO EXTERNAL DATA
✓ Internet is a rich source of information, which is stored in the form of web
page.
✓ The web pages are written in HTML documents.
✓ Data on a web page can be stored in the form of tables.
✓ The versatility of a spreadsheet allows us to insert tables form HTML
document into Calc.
✓ To insert the tables from a HTML document, we can use the External Data
Dialog box.
STEPS TO LINK EXTERNAL DATA
✓ Open the spread sheet where external data is to be inserted.
✓ Sheet > External Links > External Data dialog box will open.
✓ Type the URL of the source document and press Enter.
✓ A dialog box is displayed to select the language for import. Selecting
automatic shows data in the same language as in the webpage.
✓ From the Available Tables / Ranges list, choose the desired table and click ok.
✓ Table will be inserted in the spread sheet.
NOTE:
If you choose HTML all option, then the entire HTML document is
selected.
8. LINKING TO REGISTERED DATA SOURCES
o LibreOffice Calc allows us to link spread sheet documents with
databases and other data source needs to be registered with
LibreOffice.
o The extension of LibreOffice Base is .odb
STEPS:
✓ Tools > Options > LibreOffice Base > Databases > LibreOffice
Base Databases dialog box appears.
✓ Click the New button to open the Create Database Link dialog
box.
✓ Click Browse to open a file browser and select the database file.
✓ Type a name to use as the registered name for the database and
click ok.
✓ The Database is added to the list of registered databases.
NOTE:
The ok button is enabled only when both fields are filled in.
