Forum Discussion
Range showing (table array) in the wrong place
I’ve got a VLOOKUP pulling data from another excel file (sources.xlsx) the formula works as intended it's pulling the right department names based on id number, but here’s the weird part, when I double click the formula to check it, the table array ($A$2:$B$23) gets highlighted in the current sheet instead of the actual source sheet (which is in the other file).
The data is still coming in correctly, just excel is showing the range in the wrong place. Is this normal when referencing another workbook? I never experience this before, and I am not sure if it new thing or a bug
Example
1 Reply
That’s actually normal behavior in Excel. When your formula refers to a range in another workbook, Excel often can’t highlight that external range visually, so it just shows a similar range in the current sheet instead. The formula itself is still working fine and pulling the right datait’s just a display limitation. You’ll see this more often if the source file is closed or if you’re using a newer version of Excel where cross-workbook highlighting isn’t shown. As long as your data updates correctly and the link to the source file shows as “OK” under Data → Edit Links, everything is working as expected.
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