Reference Values from Multiple Workbooks/Files

[Mark Tepsic]

Let's say I have a directory of individual expense
reports done in Excel, and all of them are identical. I
want to take the sum of all files (specifically, cell I34
of each files) within a new spreadsheet.

For example:

Expense1.xls
Expense2.xls
Expsnse3.xls

In my new XLS file, I want to automatically calculate the
sum of Expense1.xls I34, Expense2.xls I34, etc. I have
about 30-40 expense reports.

Is there an easy way to do this? Can I reference *.xls
in this directory?

Mark Tepsic
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Harlan Grove]

In my new XLS file, I want to automatically calculate the
sum of Expense1.xls I34, Expense2.xls I34, etc. I have
about 30-40 expense reports.

....

Check out Data > Consolidate...

 

[Harlan Grove]

Not sure how to use this feature. I tried playing around
with it, but couldn't get it to work.

Did you read online help? How is it not working? Do you get error messages or
just wrong answers?

Isn't there an easy way to say that I want to take the
sum of cell I34 in all .XLS files in a given directory?

The 'easy' way is to use Data > Consolidate. You could also try using VBA to do
this, but it's not what I'd call easy.