Excel - If I vlookup to another workbood will that vlookup work if I send the first file in an email?

Question

I'm working on an excel file (call it file1) and I have one column that vlookups to a different file, let's call this file2. I want to email file1 to someone, but I don't know if the vlookup will still work. If file2 is saved in a local folder, would the vlookup in file1 work after emailed or would I also have to send file2 to that person?

Answer 1

Hi @Ian Hall

Welcome to Q&A forum ~

According to your description, you need to send file2 to that person.

I suggest you put file1 and file2 into one folder.
Then you can compress the entire folder and send it to those who need it.

If only the source file gets moved, or both files get moved to different locations, it will take a bit more to update the links to work right.
When others open the VLOOKUP file after moving the source file, they will get an error message like this:

If just hit Continue, and keep working, but the links will be broken and the values in the cells won't update.
If choose the Edit Links option. This will open the Edit Links window and they have the option to update the link by clicking on Change Source.

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