IMPORTRANGE for cross-spreadsheet data in Google Sheets - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

This is the source spreadsheet data with product names and their prices.

Cell	Value
A1	Product
B1	Price
A2	Apple
B2	1.20
A3	Banana
B3	0.80
A4	Cherry
B4	2.50

Formula Trace

=IMPORTRANGE("1a2b3c4d5e6f7g8h9i0jklmnopqrstuv", "Sheet1!A2:B4")

Step 1: IMPORTRANGE("1a2b3c4d5e6f7g8h9i0jklmnopqrstuv", "Sheet1!A2:B4")

Step 2: Data fetched: [["Apple", 1.20], ["Banana", 0.80], ["Cherry", 2.50]]

Cell Reference Map

Target Sheet:
+----+-------+-------+
|    |   A   |   B   |
+----+-------+-------+
| 1  |       |       |
+----+-------+-------+
| 2  | Apple |  1.20 |
+----+-------+-------+
| 3  | Banana|  0.80 |
+----+-------+-------+
| 4  | Cherry|  2.50 |
+----+-------+-------+

Source Sheet (in another spreadsheet):
+----+---------+-------+
|    |    A    |   B   |
+----+---------+-------+
| 1  | Product | Price |
+----+---------+-------+
| 2  | Apple   | 1.20  |
+----+---------+-------+
| 3  | Banana  | 0.80  |
+----+---------+-------+
| 4  | Cherry  | 2.50  |
+----+---------+-------+

The formula imports data from the source spreadsheet's Sheet1 range A2:B4 into the target sheet starting at the formula cell.

Result

+----+-------+-------+
|    |   A   |   B   |
+----+-------+-------+
| 1  |       |       |
+----+-------+-------+
| 2  | Apple |  1.20 |
+----+-------+-------+
| 3  | Banana|  0.80 |
+----+-------+-------+
| 4  | Cherry|  2.50 |
+----+-------+-------+

The target sheet shows the imported product names and prices exactly as they appear in the source spreadsheet range.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the IMPORTRANGE formula do?

A It filters data within the same sheet.

B It sums numbers in the current sheet.

C It imports data from another spreadsheet using its ID and range.

D It creates a chart from data.

Key Result

IMPORTRANGE("spreadsheet_id", "sheet_name!range") imports data from another spreadsheet's specified range.