How to Pull Data from Another Tab in Google Sheets

Tired of manually copying and pasting information between tabs in your Google Sheet? You can stop. Google Sheets has several powerful functions that let you automatically pull data points, ranges, or even entire filtered tables from one sheet tab into another. This article will show you the best methods for linking your sheets together, from the simple to the seriously powerful.

Referencing a Single Cell from Another Tab

The most straightforward way to pull data is by creating a direct link to a specific cell in another tab. This is perfect when you need to bring a single value - like a total sum, a running count, or a specific piece of text - into a summary tab or dashboard.

Imagine you have a tab named "Q1 Sales" and another named "Annual Summary." You want to pull the total sales figure from cell E50 in the Q1 tab into your annual summary.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Navigate to the cell where you want the data to appear (in your "Annual Summary" tab).
2. Type the equals sign (=).
3. Click on the source tab ("Q1 Sales").
4. Click on the cell containing the data you want to pull (cell E50).
5. Press Enter.

That's it! Your "Annual Summary" tab will now display the value from "Q1 Sales" cell E50. Google Sheets automatically creates the formula for you, which looks like this:

='Q1 Sales'!E50

Understanding the Syntax

• 'Sheet Name': The name of the tab you're pulling data from. If the tab name contains spaces or special characters, you must enclose it in single quotes.
• !: The exclamation mark is the separator that tells Google Sheets you are referencing another tab.
• E50: The specific cell reference within that tab.

Finding and Pulling Specific Data with VLOOKUP

What if you don't just need one cell but instead need to find a specific piece of information in a large table? For example, looking up the price of a product based on its name or ID. For this, VLOOKUP (Vertical Lookup) is your go-to function.

VLOOKUP scans down the first column of a data range looking for a specific value. Once it finds a match, it retrieves information from a cell in the same row but in a different column that you specify.

How VLOOKUP Works

Let's say you have two tabs:

• Products: A list of all your products, with an ID, Name, Category, and Price.
• Invoice: A tab where you enter a Product ID in column A and want Google Sheets to automatically fill in the price in column B.

In your Invoice tab, you would use this formula:

=VLOOKUP(A2, Products!A2:D100, 4, FALSE)

Breaking Down the VLOOKUP Formula

The structure is VLOOKUP(search_key, range, index, [is_sorted]).

• search_key (A2): This is what you're looking for. In our case, it's the product ID located in cell A2 of the current "Invoice" tab.
• range (Products!A2:D100): This is where Google Sheets should look for the data. We're telling it to look in the table located on the "Products" tab, from cell A2 to D100. Important: The column containing your search_key must be the very first column in this range.
• index (4): This is the column number within your "range" that contains the information you want to pull. Since our range is "A2:D100," the Price is in column D, which is the 4th column of the range.
• [is_sorted] (FALSE): This tells the function whether to look for an exact match or an approximate one. You will almost always use FALSE to find the exact match.

Now, when you type a Product ID into cell A2 of your "Invoice" tab, this formula will instantly find that ID in the "Products" tab and return the corresponding price. You can drag this formula down the column to apply it to your entire invoice.

For More Flexibility: Combining INDEX and MATCH

VLOOKUP is great but has a major limitation: it can only search for values in the very first column of your data range. If you need to search for a value in a column that isn't the first one, or if you frequently add and remove columns from your source sheet, the combination of INDEX and MATCH is a much more robust solution.

These two functions work as a team:

• MATCH: Finds the row number of a specific value in a column.
• INDEX: Retrieves the value from a cell given a specific row and column number.

Think of it like a game of Battleship. MATCH tells you the row ("You hit my ship at row 5!"), and INDEX looks at row 5 in the column you specified to retrieve the prize.

How INDEX and MATCH Work Together

Let's use our "Products" and "Invoice" example again. This time, imagine the Product ID isn't in column A in the "Products" tab, it's in column B.

• Products tab has Column A: Product Name, Column B: Product ID, Column C: Category, Column D: Price.
• Invoice tab: We type a Product ID into A2 and want the price to appear in B2.

The formula in B2 of your "Invoice" tab would be:

=INDEX(Products!D:D, MATCH(A2, Products!B:B, 0))

Breaking Down the INDEX/MATCH Formula:

1. MATCH(A2, Products!B:B, 0):
2. INDEX(Products!D:D, ...):

While a bit more complex to write initially, INDEX/MATCH is much more durable than VLOOKUP because it doesn't break if you reorder, add, or delete columns in your source tab.

Advanced Filtering with the QUERY Function

When you need to pull more than just a single piece of data — like an entire list, table, or a filtered subset of information — the QUERY function is your best friend. It’s arguably the most powerful function in Google Sheets, allowing you to use SQL-like commands to select, filter, sort, and aggregate your data.

How the QUERY function works

The basic structure is QUERY(data, query_text). It tells Google Sheets to act like a mini-database.

Let's pretend you have a master tab called All Orders with columns for Order ID (A), Customer Name (B), Region (C), Product (D), and Sale Amount (E). Here are a few things you could do with QUERY in another tab.

Example 1: Pull an entire filtered list

You want to create a new tab that only shows orders from the "North" region.

=QUERY('All Orders'!A:E, "SELECT * WHERE C = 'North'")

• 'All Orders'!A:E: This is the data source.
• "SELECT * WHERE C = 'North'": This is your command. "SELECT *" means "select all columns." "WHERE C = 'North'" tells it to only return rows where the value in column C is "North."

This single formula will generate a complete, automatically updating table of all North region orders on your new tab.

Example 2: Pull specific columns and sort them

Now, let's create a list showing just the Customer Name and Sale Amount for orders over $500, sorted from highest sale to lowest.

=QUERY('All Orders'!A:E, "SELECT B, E WHERE E > 500 ORDER BY E DESC")

• "SELECT B, E...": We're only selecting columns B (Customer Name) and E (Sale Amount).
• "...WHERE E > 500": Filtering for rows where the sale amount is greater than 500.
• "...ORDER BY E DESC": Sorting the results by column E in descending order (DESC).

The QUERY function unlocks the ability to create customized, live summary reports that would otherwise take ages to create and maintain manually.

Tips for Clean and Error-Free Formulas

As you build more complex sheets, a few best practices can save you major headaches.

• Use Named Ranges: Instead of writing "Products!A2:D100" repeatedly, you can select that range, go to Data > Named ranges, and name it "ProductList." Your formula then becomes much cleaner: =VLOOKUP(A2, ProductList, 4, FALSE).
• Anchor Fills with Absolute References: When you drag a formula down a column, Google Sheets automatically adjusts the cell references. Sometimes you don't want that. For example, if your data range is always "A2:D100," use $ to lock it: Products!$A$2:$D$100. This prevents errors as you expand your formulas.
• Handle Errors Gracefully with IFERROR: Nothing looks more unprofessional than a sheet full of #N/A! errors. Wrap your formulas in IFERROR to display a cleaner message when a lookup fails.

=IFERROR(VLOOKUP(A2, ProductList, 4, FALSE), "Product Not Found")

Now, if the product ID isn't found, the cell will simply say "Product Not Found" instead of showing an error code.

Final Thoughts

Learning how to pull data between tabs moves you from simply recording information to creating dynamic, interconnected reports in Google Sheets. From a simple cell link to a flexible INDEX/MATCH combo or a powerful QUERY, these formulas save you time and dramatically reduce the risk of manual data entry errors.

While mastering formulas is immensely helpful for managing and analyzing data within spreadsheets, we know that the full picture of your business performance is usually scattered across many other platforms. Pulling Shopify sales data, Google Analytics traffic, and Facebook Ads spend into a single spreadsheet still involves a lot of manual exporting and wrangling. That's why we built Graphed. We connect directly to your data sources, allowing you to ask questions in plain English — like "create a report showing my Facebook ad spend vs. Shopify revenue by campaign for the last month" — and instantly get a live, automated dashboard, saving you hours of busywork.