Cell references to other tables, keep from changing

Question

Here's what I am trying to do. I have two tables, in two sheets. Sheet 1::Table 1 and Sheet 2::Table 2.
The cells in Table 2 are all referenced to cells in Table 1 (with a formula that looks like =Table 1::X7).
I want to be able to move the rows in Table 1 around but have the formulas in Table 2 not change their reference. Now it seems they follow along. So the reference in Table 2 is =Table 1::X7 and I move row 7 in Table 1 so that it becomes row 6, my reference in Table 2 changes to =Table 1::X6. I don't want it to change. Changing the reference from relative to absolute doesn't seem to change this.
Any suggestions?
Thanks! Brian

Answer 1

"I looked at INDEX and OFFSET but from what I can tell they don't accept a parameter for a different table."
OFFSET's base can be set as a cell on a different table. If that cell is in a Header row, it will not be included in sorts of the table, so in many cases cell A1 is chosen as 'base' (with row 1 set as a Header row), and offsets are calculated from that cell.
The example below shows results using OFFSET in columns B and C, and INDEX and OFFSET in column D, all of Table 2, to retrieve values from column X of Table 1. The yellow-filled row on Table 2 retrieves the values from the same cell as your =Table 1::X7 formula above. X7 is in the green filled row of Table 1.
The second pair of tables shows duplicates of the same pair of tables. Table 1 in this row has been sorted on the values in column B. Note that what was Row 7 of Table 1 is now Row 4 (although it is still labeled Row 7 in column A). Table 2 has not been sorted. The yellow-filled row is still in the same position and the formula in each of the three cells remains the same as it was in the first version of the table. The value retrieved is from cell X7 on the sorted Table 1.
Formulas (all in Table 2, entered in row 2, then filled down to row 10):
B2: =OFFSET(Table 1 :: $A$1,ROW()-1,23)
C2: =OFFSET(Table 1 :: $X$1,ROW()-1,0)
These two are pretty much the same.
The first uses A1 as the base, and requires a column offset of 23 steps to arrive at column X.
The second uses X1 as the base, and requires a column offset of 0 to remain in column X.
The row offset for both is set by the row in which the formula resides. ROW() returns the row number, from which 1 is subtracted to give an offset from row 1 of one step less than the row number of the formula's position.
D2: =INDEX(OFFSET(Table 1 :: $X$1,0,0,ROWS(Table 1 :: $X)),ROW())
This one uses OFFSET's ability to capture several values in an internal array, triggered here by adding a fourth argument to the function ( ROWS(Table 1::$X) ), to define the row-range as 'all of the rows in column X'. The values are extracted using INDEX.
Although INDEX has its uses, here I think it is redundant, and would use either of the two previous examples.
Regards,
Barry