Formula vs link - best practice?
We are new to Workiva and are setting up our working papers at the moment. I see that there are two options in order to reference data from one spreadsheet section to another section - by formula reference, or by linking.
Is there a best practice on which to use, if we are just wanting to "link" the cell data from one sheet to another sheet?
Or are both the same?
-
Hello Shera,
We recommend using cross-sheet formulas for value references inside the spreadsheet; and using links for cross-document references.
Let us know if you have any additional questions!
0
Thanks for your response Courtnie! May I understand the underlying reasons why cross-sheet formulas are recommended for value references inside a spreadsheet?
In my past experience with Workiva in other companies we've always used links for everything, so cross-sheet formula for value references is new to me, and I'd like to learn more.
0
I reached out to our spreadsheet experts to provide you some more details!
In regards to your past experience - this may be due to the fact that Classic did not have the ability to perform cross-sheet formulas. Any intra-workbook linking had to use linking in those days. Next Gen has the ability to do both!
Our experts stated that cross-sheet references are orders of magnitude faster/less resource intensive than links. Additionally, links within spreadsheets count to your link limit (70,000 links - hard limit). Linking within spreadsheets is simply not best practice in terms of scalability (link limit) or sustainability (what if the format of the sheet you are linking to changes/gets overridden).
I hope this helps!
1
Dear Courtnie,
we just recently started our Workiva implementation and also came to the question of using links or formulas.
At the moment we've got one Spreadsheet where we import the data from our source system (In this sheet the structure will change every time we import our data). In a second tab within this spreadsheet we bring our data in a structured form (via VLOOKUP) which is the same for every report.
Would you reccomend to link from this structured tab into our tables or is it better to use formulas in our case?
As I´ve also seen the link limit has been changed to 200.000 links per document.
Kind regards
Markus
0
For your use case — the recommendation is to use formulas (cross-sheet references/formula references) within the spreadsheet, and then use links from the structured tab to your report tables.Within the Spreadsheet (Tab 1 → Tab 2)Since your VLOOKUP-based structured tab is already referencing Tab 1 using formulas, you're already doing this correctly. The official Workiva best practice explicitly states:
"Prefer the use of cross-sheet formulas over links when sharing values inside of a spreadsheet."
This is especially relevant for your setup because:
- Your raw import tab changes structure with each import
- Formula references (like VLOOKUP) handle this dynamically without consuming your link budget
- Using links inside a spreadsheet consumes your 200,000 link limit — formulas don't count toward that limit
From the Structured Tab → Report Tables (Documents/Spreadsheets)When pushing data from your structured tab into your Workiva tables in documents or other spreadsheets, links are the right tool:
- Links connect individual cells or ranges between documents
- They maintain formatting flow-through and allow controlled publishing
- With 200,000 links per document, there's ample capacity for most reporting setups
You are correct — the limit was increased from 70,000 to 200,000 links per document. This applies to the total count of both source and destination links within a single file!
Performance Note: When using large numbers of formula references inside a big spreadsheet, it caused slowdowns.There's a balance — formulas are preferred over links within a spreadsheet, but very large formula sets can still impact performance. Monitor your file performance as you build out.0Vous devez vous connecter pour laisser un commentaire.
Commentaires
5 commentaires