I have found that any time a #REF! error exists, google sheets permanently replaces the incorrect reference in the formula to #REF!. Even if it was just a typo where one letter was off and all that it would have taken to fix it was to delete that extra character.. huge time waster, and also has made me lose quite a bit of work when I can't remember which reference went where in a complicated formula.
Anyone know of a fix?
Even though formulas display the name, Named Ranges used in formulas actually refer to the Named Range objects and not the names themselves. When you delete a named range you are deleting the object that the formula refers to. Creating a new named range with the same name is not the same object used in the formula. To change the range that the Named Range refers to one should modify the Named Range object instead of deleting it and creating a new one.
setRange(range)
Sets/updates the range for this named range.
https://developers.google.com/apps-script/reference/spreadsheet/named-range#setrangerange
The reference being replaced is by design. a suggestion has been submitted to Google to only put #REF! As the outputted value, instead of modifying the existing formula.
Related
I am utilizing a xlookup with indirect references function with certain date ranges to determine the range of rows to search in. With 3k rows of data and repeating values this helped me pair down to non-repeating values so I don't have an errant value from an earlier entry. The xlookup initially worked great when I manually inputted range of rows to search in but when indirect was introduced I am getting my error message I programmed (leading me to believe there isn't an error with my function)
When I utilize the direct references (meaning I'd have to change the date ranges directly in formula) it works great!
`=xlookup(T3,Statistics!F203:F215,Statistics!A203:215,"Not Scheduled",1,1)`
However when I use indirect to reference the specific range (so that I can adjust the date range over one cell and the reference rows recalculate) I get the error message I programmed.
`=xlookup(T3,indirect(Statistics!Q11&":"&Statistics!R11),indirect(Statistics!T11&":"&Statistics!U11),"Not Scheduled",1,1)`
Q11=F203
R11=F215
T11=A203
U11=A215
The correct answer lies in Row F205 which is within the ranges specified in the function.
Usually I figure these out or find a typo when utilizing my functions but I'll be honest and say this has me stumped. The references on the other page are identical. Just for note I also tried a Concateate function to combine the two cells before calling indirect with the same result. Any help would be greatly appreciated as this would add verification to a transportation system instead of double entry across two systems.
As far as I see it, what I think you're missing is the name of the sheet. You're referencing to the cells but not clarifying that the INDIRECT function has to look into "Statistics". Try adding it:
=xlookup(T3,indirect("Statistics!"&Statistics!Q11&":"&Statistics!R11),indirect("Statistics!"&Statistics!T11&":"&Statistics!U11),"Not Scheduled",1,1)
About that 1 after "Not Scheduled", are you sure you don't want an exact match only? Meaning to use a 0 instead of 1
I make some named range on my Google sheet like
order_id: A2:A1000
New rows are added to this sheet via Zapier. After a while, I found the named range has become
order_id:A2:A1035
How to prevent this behavior and make the range stays A2:A1000?
solution to this kind of depends on it's purpose and how you're using the named range downstream (in appScript?, just formulas?)
seems like the way to do this is to make the named range:
order_id: A2
then, in your code, use
sheet.getRange('order_id').offset(0,0,1000)
maybe?
I have been checking the documentation for Named ranges, it does not mention anything about that behavior.
I have been testing and I noticed the named range will expand when the rows are added within the range selected, not outside of it. I'd say the behavior is expected to avoid leaving data outside of the range accidentally.
If you are a Google Workspace customer you can try submitting a Feature Idea since I do not see a way to leave the named range locked.
I am very fresh with Excel and still learning the basics. I came upon an issue I really need help with and couldn't find suitable solution online.
I have a column I keep on constantly updating with Bulk data THE COLUMN.
I'd like to see the most common entry and the least common entry for a specific time using this formula:
=INDEX('Data Input'!F433:F610,MODE(MATCH('Data Input'!F433:F610,'Data Input'!F433:F610,0)))
But once I try it, it constantly tells me:
Did not find value '' in MATCH evaluation.
I've tried with shorter ranges and It did work, so I guess once it runs through empty cell - it breaks. How can I modify this formula to function properly and print what I need?
And side question, is is possible to implement a calendar bar and choose between dates?
You can insert a clause to exclude blanks (assuming they are not to be considered a legitimate return):
=INDEX('Data Input'!F433:F610,MODE(IF('Data Input'!F433:F610<>"",MATCH('Data Input'!F433:F610,'Data Input'!F433:F610,{0,0}))))
Note that I have used
{0,0}
for MATCH's match_type parameter so that the formula will not error should there be more than one entry within your range which shares the highest frequency. In such cases, the above formula will return that which occurs first in your list.
In column B are listed IDs of Google Sheets. In column C are listed cells, from which I want to import data.
Screenshot of the table
In column D is shown the result of using IMPORTRANGE() by simply dragging it. e.g. for D1 it looks like:
=IMPORTRANGE(B1;C1)
for D2:
=IMPORTRANGE(B2;C2)
and so on.
In column E I want to display the same result but using ARRAYFORMULA that looks like:
=ARRAYFORMULA(IMPORTRANGE(B2:B4,C2:C4))
but the function displays only the data from the first spreadsheet.
People complain about this permissions issue a lot, but it's not hard to solve. What I do is have a sheet which I name "Splash sheet" into which I paste the URLs of the documents I wish to link. To its right is a column headed "permit to connect" which contains IMPORTRANGE formulas importing a single cell from each sheet -- usually a cell containing a confirmation code, number or document name -- on a sheet also named "Splash Sheet." For example,
=IF(B3="enter URL",,CONCATENATE(IMPORTRANGE(B3,"Splash sheet!A1")," ",IMPORTRANGE(B3,"Splash sheet!B1")))
So, when you first connect a spreadsheet via its URL, you get those messages telling you you need to connect, you click the Permit Access, the confirmation code/number/document name appears in the second column, and voilá, your sheets are connected forevermore! Now all your other IMPORTRANGEs referencing that URL will work, and you can use IMPORTRANGE formulas that reference the URL-containing cells on the "splash sheet."
As for the OP's original question, I came here seeking an answer to the same problem, and after more research have realized that we are attempting the impossible here. No way to do this an ARRAYFORMULA. No way around writing formulas that reference every single cell a document's URL may go into.
Problem is you can't make arrays of arrays in spreadsheets; that would involve multiple dimensions, and the medium is inherently two-dimensional. This is what people use databases for.
ARRAYFORMULA doesn't work when importing data (I think it relates to permissions). You could use something like this, =IFERROR(IMPORTRANGE(B5:B7;C5:C7)) and pre-fill the column first, but still there would be the permissions issue. Each new imported sheet needs it's permissions granted by a user.
TLDR: If I understand your intention correctly when you say you would like to see
=ARRAYFORMULA(IMPORTRANGE(B2:B4,C2:C4)), I believe you can make that
happen using the following.
=ARRAYFORMULA(IMPORTRANGE(
INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW(B2:B4), COLUMN(B2:B4)),
INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW(C2:C4), COLUMN(C2:C4))
)
Breakdown
Use IMPORTRANGE with INDIRECT to create ranges inside ARRAYFORMULA
Call INDIRECT with the ADDRESS function
Call ADDRESS with the ROW and COLUMN functions since they take ranges via ARRAYFORMULA
using IMPORTRANGE with INDIRECT
IMPORTRANGE's two parameters are the spreadsheet url stored in B2:B4 for this example and the range (e.g. sheet!A1:B2) stored in C2:C4.
Since IMPORTRANGE doesn't take a range reference directly as you mentioned, you'll need to build it for each row with ARRAYFORMULA using the INDIRECT function.
INDIRECT can be used to compose a cell reference using A1 notation, for instance
=IMPORTRANGE(INDIRECT("B" & 2), INDIRECT("C" & 2))
will produce the same result as
=IMPORTRANGE(B2, C2)
Since this produces the same result, we now just have to find a way to make INDIRECT work with ARRAYFORMULA
Use ADDRESS to build the parameters for INDIRECT
Next you want to use ADDRESS to build the A1 reference for INDIRECT. For the current purposes, ADDRESS takes a numerical value for row and column as parameters
=INDIRECT(ADDRESS(2,2))
will produce the same result as
=INDIRECT("B" & 2)
Since these two are interchangeable, now we just need to find a way to get the numerical row and column values out of ARRAYFORMULA.
Call ADDRESS using the ROW and COLUMN functions
From there, you can get the row and column indexes from standard A1 notation using the ROW and COLUMN functions. While this may seem like we're pointlessly going in circles, the difference now is that ROW and COLUMN perform as expected with the ranges provided by ARRAYFORMULA. So given that ADDRESS will return $B$2 using using either method below
=ADDRESS(2,2)
or
=ADDRESS(ROW(B2),COLUMN(B2))
we now know that
=ARRAYFORMULA(ADDRESS(ROW(B2:B4),COLUMN(B2:B4)))
will produce the following array of addresses
{ $B$2; $B$3; $B$4 }
Final Assembly
So when we put this all together, we get
=ARRAYFORMULA(IMPORTRANGE(
INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW(B2:B4), COLUMN(B2:B4)),
INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW(C2:C4), COLUMN(C2:C4))
)
where INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW(B2:B4), COLUMN(B2:B4)) is more or less interchangeable with what you might expect from B2:B4 inside ARRAYFORMULA and represents the url parameter
and INDIRECT(ADDRESS(ROW(C2:C4), COLUMN(C2:C4)) is roughly interchangeable with what you might expect from C2:C4 inside ARRAYFORMULA and represents the range parameter.
Suggestions on organization
I recommend using the indentation (Alt +Enter to create a new line ) above along with your indentation of choice to keep it easier to read. In the end it's just a bit more syntactic sugar and if spaces are used well it shouldn't be much harder to understand and make changes to 6 months later.
RE: Permissions - as mentioned by Atiq Zabinski, just placing a simple
IMPORTRANGE("http:/xxxx", "A1") somewhere on the sheet will provide a
means to know if the sheet is connected or not and the error message
should give you a context menu for connecting the sheet. You'll might
want to stay away from error handling in these scenarios as it will
slow down the process of connecting the sheets.
In Google Docs Spreadsheets, one can use Range Names to put labels on ranges of cells to make formulas more legible. In most formulas, one can use the range C:C to denote the entire C column, and C2:C to denote the entire C column after and including C2.
Is there a way to create range names of the same nature? When I try C:C or C2:C or Sheet!C:C or 'Sheet'!C:C I always get the error "The range you specified is not in a valid range format." I would like the range name to expand as my form adds rows to my spreadsheet. Thanks.
I just discovered the if you use the '-' operator, it starts from the bottom row. So,
=INDIRECT("-D:D12")
starts from the last row and works it's way up to D12!
I had a similar problem. Although I do not know how to do exactly what you are asking, you can do essentially the same thing by referencing cells that are not yet created.
For example:
Column C currently has 100 cells (100 rows in the sheet)
Instead of referencing it with C:C, use C1:C999
If you make the row reference high enough, then you can account for future rows that you will create. Hope it helps.
I don't think so... even if you select a column manually while in the Range Name selector, it complains. That would be a nice feature and it would make sense since they support column ranges for formulas already.
I believe this does work now. I have a range name of "Sheet1!A10:AW10" with no problems.
If you try to do a whole column, I think it will just take all the available cells in the column at that time. i.e. if you make more cells later, you need to manually add to the range name.
I had the same problem with ranges such as A3:A which normally work in other places such as ARRAYFORMULA(), but the workaround is to not specify the starting row, such as A:A. In cases when this would be a problem, you can proxy the data through another column using something like ARRAYFORUMULA(A25:A) as the formula.
Update: Apparently I haven't read the question properly. I see that the OP had tried leaving out the row number, so perhaps it wasn't working at that time, but it does now. The notations still don't work.
Update2: I didn't notice that google spreadsheet replaces ranges like A:A to A1:A50, so new rows added later on do not still get included. That I think is what #Dean is trying to say in his answer.
I think it's a helpful tool to use Insert -> Define new range to make a wizard appear and make the syntax correct. Hehe
My response in other topic