How to change lookup references

[Guest]

I have a master spreadsheet that calculates formulas from data in another,
multitab spreadsheet. I want to create one master formula that changes the
links from one tab to another, which the calculations can reference. It can
be done with a search-and-replace of the tab name, but I'd rather use a
formula that all the formulas in the master spreadsheet can link into. I
thought of using a concactenate formula to build the spreadsheet and tab
name, but the calculation formulas don't recognize it. What am I missing?

 

[Bernie Deitrick]

Guy,

You need to build the reference string within the INDIRECT function, along the lines of

=VLOOKUP(A1,INDIRECT("'" & B2 & "'!A2:C10"),2, FALSE)

Where B2 has the tab name.

HTH,
Bernie
MS Excel MVP