I have word text in Cell H2 that I would like to automatically input
into another cell (H5) on the worksheet.  For example, when I type
'cat' into H2, I want 'cat' to appear in H5; if I change 'cat' in H2
to 'dog', I want the wording to change to 'dog' in H5.  How do I do
this?

Hi prpro,

This should do it...

Create a link between cells in the same worksheet or workbook:
"1. Click the cell that contains the data you want to link to, and
then click Copy on the Standard toolbar (toolbar: A bar with buttons
and options that you use to carry out commands. To display a toolbar,
click Customize on the Tools menu, and then click the Toolbars tab.).
2. Click the cell you want to link from, and then click Paste .
3. Click Paste Options and then click Link Cells.

Create a link between cells in different workbooks
1. Open both the workbook that will contain the link (called the
destination (destination file: The file that a linked or embedded
object is inserted into. The source file contains the information that
is used to create the object. When you change information in a
destination file, the information is not updated in the source file.)
workbook), and the workbook that contains the data you want to link to
(called the source (source file: The file that contains information
that was used to create a linked or embedded object. WHEN YOU UPDATE
THE INFORMATION IN THE SOURCE FILE, YOU CAN ALSO UPDATE THE LINKED
OBJECT IN THE DESTINATION FILE.) workbook).
2. In the destination workbook, click Save .
3. Select a cell or cells you want to link from.
4. If you are creating a new formula, type = (an equal sign).

If you are entering the link elsewhere in the formula, type the
operator (operator: A sign or symbol that specifies the type of
calculation to perform within an expression. There are mathematical,
comparison, logical, and reference operators.) or function that you
want to precede the link.
5. On the Window menu, click the name of the source workbook, and then
click the worksheet that contains the cells you want to link to.
6. Select the cells you want to link to.
7. Complete the formula. When you finish entering the formula, press ENTER."
http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/preview.aspx?AssetID=HP051995141033&CTT=3&Origin=HP052024891033

See LINKING WORKSHEETS/WORKBOOKS:
http://www.primarydata.co.uk/website/downloads/xp_sample.pdf

I hope that does the trick. If not, or if you have any questions,
please post a clarification request before closing/rating my answer
and I'll be happy to reply.

Thank you,
hummer

Google Search Terms Used:

excel "link between cells"
excel type in one cell appear in another
excel how to "link to another cell"

---

Request for Answer Clarification by prpro-ga on 26 May 2004 19:25 PDT

Perfect, hummer!  Now -- for a $5 tip -- now that I have done the
linking, the cells with the source data look perfect: they are clean
and empty when no numbers are input.  However, the corresponding
linked-to cells all have "0.00" within them.  How do I make the
linked-to cells look equally 'clean and empty' while preserving the
formulae?

---

Clarification of Answer by hummer-ga on 27 May 2004 07:21 PDT

Good morning, prpro,

Thanks for the good news. Okay, have a look at these:

Why do externally-linked cells appear as zero rather than null?:
You can use either of the 2 formulas when creating the links to the
external source:
=if(destination="","",destination)
or
=if(isblank(destination),"",destination)
http://www.mrexcel.com/archive/Links/5511.html

Subject: Suppressing zeros in Linked cells:
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.excel.misc:
"You can try the following formula, (assuming you are 
linking to cell G32 located in a worksheet named "Sheet2"),

=IF(ISBLANK(Sheet2!G32),"",Sheet2!G32)

Translation:  If the value found in cell G32 on Sheet2 is 
blank (ie. ISBLANK(Sheet2!G32)), enter an empty value 
(ie. "") into the current cell, otherwise enter the value 
found (ie. Sheet2!G32)."
http://groups.google.ca/groups?q=excel+%22linked+cells%22+destination+empty&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&as_qdr=all&selm=02b901c34d55%248d59b010%24a101280a%40phx.gbl&rnum=1

Subject: Re: An easy link question????
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.excel.links
If zero is never valid in the destination cell you could format it with a 
custom number format like "0;-0;" which suppresses the display of 0 values.
http://groups.google.ca/groups?q=excel+%22linked+cells%22+destination+empty&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&as_qdr=all&selm=VA.00000701.018d2ee2%40msn.com&rnum=4

Subject: Paste link problem:
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.excel.misc"
If you modify your formula to something like this:
=if(Sheet2!$A$1="","",Sheet2!$A$1)
or
=IF(OR(SHEET2!$A$1="",SHEET2!$A$1=0),"",SHEET2!$A$1)
http://groups.google.ca/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&threadm=eJ2uSeQSBHA.2112%40tkmsftngp05&rnum=3&prev=/groups%3Fq%3Dexcel%2520%2522linked%2520cells%2522%2520destination%2520empty%26num%3D100%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DN%26as_qdr%3Dall%26tab%3Dwg

I hope that helps!
hummer

FANTASTIC, hummer!  I did the following choice: "If zero is never
valid in the destination cell you could format it with a custom number
format like "0;-0;" which suppresses the display of 0 values."  It
works perfectly.

If anyone wants to do this themselves, you will be able express
decimals (such as 1.00 instead of 1) by inputting the following
formula: 0.00;-0.00;

Thank you, prpro! Your nice note, rating, and very generous tip (a
nice surprise) are all appreciated. I'm happy to hear we found a
solution - it's really neat when things work as you want, isn't it?
Take care, hummer

It's even more neat when you can get Excel to work the way you want! LOL! ;-)

You don't have to link the cells to do what you asked originally, you
can just refer to the original cell in a formula. In your example, you
would enter in cell H5 the formula "=H2". You can do this between
worksheets by specifying the worksheet in the reference: "=Sheet1!h2",
entered in cell H5 in Sheet 2 will copy the value between sheets. This
won't work between different files, though.