When You SHOULD Use INDIRECT
If you’re a beginner with Excel’s INDIRECT formula, what’s the best way to understand it? Well, it kind of turns your existing understanding of Excel on its head! By reading entries in cells as cell references, it does something that feels powerful but unnatural to many Excel users. Like black magic, perhaps – the possibilities might intrigue, but it all seems a bit … scary.
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Add to this INDIRECT’s reputation (somewhat undeserved, in my view) for slowing spreadsheets down, and the common perception is that it should be used with extreme care, or avoided altogether. That’s a shame, because if you’re not using Excel’s INDIRECT formula, you’re missing out on an opportunity to create cool dynamic functionality and save time and stress in Excel, as I demonstrate in today’s video.
Does INDIRECT really slow spreadsheets down? In my experience, only if used excessively. Yes, INDIRECT is a ‘volatile’ formula, which means it seems to spend more time calculating than other formulae do. But, I find this only makes a difference if you use hundreds or thousands of Excel INDIRECT formula - this I do not recommend! (Yes, I’ve been there …)
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Excel INDIRECT Formula: Easy Demo
01:02 Preparing For INDIRECT
02:02 Building INDIRECT: Step-By-Step
04:30 Testing Excel’s INDIRECT Formula
04:47 About Our Members’ Monday Community
In this case, we shouldn’t ‘throw the baby out with the bath water’. That’s because, used sparingly and intentionally, Excel’s INDIRECT formula delivers a specific function no other formula can. INDIRECT’s ability to read cell entries as references means it’s perfect for collating data from disparate datasets, for example. The Excel file I use in the video is a case-in-point: data is fragmented across sheets, so how to collate it quickly, and without having to ‘visit’ each sheet?
Make sure you download the Excel file and work along with me to understand the unique value INDIRECT can bring to your Excel practice.
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