Comments on: Excel Indirect() function – save hours

By: simontkb

simontkb — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:31:43 +0000

Hi Daniel – glad you got it to work. Did you type the formula in from scratch the first time or use copy and paste? The double quotes definitely look different. I think the WordPress editor might format them in some way so if you did copy and paste the reformatted ones would not be recognised by Excel as double quotes and this would cause the error. Glad you found the post useful.

By: JD

JD — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:16:22 +0000

Problem solved…. this one works =COUNTIF(INDIRECT(“‘”&A1&”‘!$B$2:$B$5″),”a”). It looks very similar to what I posted above. I am not sure what makes it work now.
It sounds strange.. but I have a suspicion. The double quotes appear different sometimes… do you know anything around it? Like, sometimes it appear as if it in italics and sometimes it is straight… i am so confused now.. and will be glad if someone could throw more light into it.. anyways, its working now

By: JD

JD — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:17:13 +0000

Brad’s comment @ is where I am now.. And it is not working for me either. I am using Excel 2010 and I am trying my best to solve this problem. Lemme see if I can solve it.. This is what I am using now =COUNTIF(INDIRECT(“‘”&A1&“’!$B$2:$B$5″),”a”) Excel complains there is an error. This is just an example sheet I am using to learn how this works and then I will use it in my context.. A1 contains a valid sheetname and i have junk data in that sheet

Simon, this page has been very helpful. Thank you so much. Hope I can solve this puzzle. I will appreciate it if you could have a relook at the formula you gave @ =COUNTIF(INDIRECT(“‘” & T4 & “‘!$B$4:$B$500″),”8U”)

By: Brad

Brad — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:42:33 +0000

Thanks, Simon. I tried the apostrophes and also renaming the sheet but that didn’t help. I am using Excel 2010 but haven’t had time to look into using a table yet. For now, I was able to move some cells around and drop back to picking up all of column B. Thanks for the suggestions.

By: simontkb

simontkb — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 09:54:09 +0000

Hi Brad
I can’t immediately see a problem with your INDIRECT() formula. Is there any chance that a stray space could have been entered somewhere? Including the single apostrophes to allow for a sheet name with spaces is generally a bit safer as it allows for sheet names with intentional spaces: =COUNTIF(INDIRECT(“‘” & T4 & “‘!$B$4:$B$500″),”8U”). I’d try changing the Roster sheet name and the entry in T4 to check for a problem with the sheet name first. Which version of Excel are you using? You might find a simpler solution is just to use an Excel list (2003) or table (2007 or 2010) which will automatically adapt your formula to reflect insertions or deletions. Alternatively, If the performance penalty isn’t a problem and there is no other structural reason not to, you could apply the formula to the whole of column B: =COUNTIF(roster!B:B,”8U”) – insertions or deletions shouldn’t be a problem then.

By: Brad

Brad — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 03:55:24 +0000

Hi Simon,

I’m trying to use one of your earlier examples to fix a problem in our softball registration spreadsheet. I’m trying to count the number of players in a given league but I keep getting an error.

The first sheet “Roster” contains player info and column B has the league values 6U, 8U, 10U, and so on.

The second sheet “Stats” is a summary page. I would previously use something like:
=COUNTIF(Roster!B4:Roster!B500,”8U”) or
=COUNTIF(Roster!$B$4:Roster!$B$500,”8U”)
to count the players in the 8U league but as we insert/delete players my references get clobbered.

Reading an example above I thought this would work:
=COUNTIF(INDIRECT(T4 & “!$B$4:$B$500″),”8U”)
where cell T4 contains the value “Roster” (without the quotes).

Alas, I get the dreaded #REF! error. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Brad

By: hadi

hadi — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 09:13:12 +0000

HI simon,

I have just tried this, it keep througting errors , doesnt like the sysntx, maybe it’s me, can i send you the workbook please??

By: simontkb

simontkb — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 08:50:47 +0000

Try this – do test carefully. Again assumes sheet name is in A1. Also assumes formula is entered in A14, hence the second reference is offset by 18 columns from A to S:

=IF(INDIRECT(“‘”& A1 & “‘!RC”,FALSE)=”",”",CONCATENATE(“|”,FIXED(INDIRECT(“‘”& A1 & “‘!RC[18]“,FALSE),2),”|”))

By: hadi

hadi — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 08:34:18 +0000

hi simon

that’s exaclty what i am trying to do but how do i use it or include it within the following formula, beause everytime i am trying to add indirect , my forumla return syntzt errorr

=IF(‘Time Sheet Entry’!A14=””,””,CONCATENATE(“|”,FIXED(‘Time Sheet Entry’!S14,2),”|”))

even tho I am java developer to be honest i am stuck with this, could you pleaseee, see if you can solve this?

By: simontkb

simontkb — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 07:17:23 +0000

Hi
I think what they are referring to is the use of INDIRECT() to ‘fix’ a cell reference so that reference always refers to what is currently in that cell, unadjusted for insertions and deletions. For example the following ‘Row/Column’ form of an INDIRECT() function (note the extra argument of ‘False’ at the end to use Row/Column rather than A1 referencing) would always refer to the same cell in the sheet named in cell $A$1 as the cell that contains the formula. RC meaning no rows, no columns offset from the current location – if it was typed into cell D14 it would refer to D14. R[1]C[1] would refer to E15 etc.)

=INDIRECT(“‘”&$A$1 & “‘!RC”,FALSE)