Linking Consolidated Data

During a consolidation, Excel enables you to link the data in the source areas specified in the All References list box of the Consolidate dialog box to the destination area in the new worksheet. That way, any changes that you make to the values in the source area will be updated automatically in the destination area of the consolidation worksheet. To create links between the source worksheets and the destination worksheet, you simply select the Create Links to Source Data check box in the Consolidate dialog box prior to performing the consolidation.

When you perform a consolidation with linking, Excel creates the links between the source areas and the destination area by outlining the destination area. Each outline level created in the destination area holds rows or columns that contain the linking formulas to the consolidated data.