New Feature - Support for copying groups of worksheets that reference each other

In ReportWORQ, one of the things you can do with parameters is make a copy of a worksheet for a list of entities. For example, making a copy of a “Report” worksheet for the Regions: East, Central, and West. Now let’s assume that the Report worksheet references a range of cells to summarize data from another worksheet, for example a Data worksheet.

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Since the Report worksheet is using this Region parameter, 3 copies of it will be made, and since the Data worksheet doesn’t have any parameters then there will only be the single Data sheet. In this scenario all 3 Report worksheets reference the same single Data worksheet, as shown below.

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Building on this example, let’s add the Region parameter to the Data worksheet. This now means that we’ll have 3 Report worksheets and 3 Data worksheets, as shown in the example below. Until now, ReportWORQ did not support this scenario without using workarounds such as the INDIRECT formula. The problem was that the 3 new Report worksheets would all still reference the original Data worksheet, instead of being updated to reference each new copy of the Data worksheet.

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As of Preview Version 5.0.1.159 and to be officially released on November 6th, ReportWORQ now supports copying groups of worksheets that use common parameters together as a set. This new logic will allow you to make copies of groups of worksheets where there may be references to each other. When the copy is made, those formula references will be updated to the new copy of the worksheet, as expected.

This new behavior required a change to how we copy worksheets and will be enabled by default. However, if you find any issues arise then the new behavior can be reverted by navigating to the Settings screen, choosing the Beta Features button and unchecking "Enable copying worksheets as a group".

Be sure to let us know here or at support@reportworq.com if you have any feedback on this new capability.

Andy, for those reports that are using indirect formulas since they were built before this update will they still work or will they need to be modified?

@karen.hewitt,

Great question. The support for INDIRECT remains unchanged, however let me explain the limitations with this formula when processed through ReportWORQ and why that technique is difficult to use when copying groups of worksheets.

The INDIRECT formula references another worksheet and range dynamically, usually from a ReportWORQ parameter. This works because you’re referencing a worksheet that ReportWORQ will create and will eventually name, so you know how to tell the INDIRECT formula what the worksheet will eventually be called. However, this is where the limitations come in.

ReportWORQ’s final step is to rename the worksheets, which means that the INDIRECT formulas will be in a #REF state up until this step. Therefore, if you use the Remove All Formulas the INDIRECT formulas will show as #REF. This also means you can’t use an INDIRECT formula to influence any other ReportWORQ formulas (e.g. RWSUPPRESS). And the reason why we can’t rename the worksheets earlier is because calculation on the worksheet may be used to provide the naming, which creates the chicken and egg issue.

This new feature addresses these limitations because it eliminates the need to use the INDIRECT formula.

Thank You,
-Andy