I'm developing a workbook that will serve as a template for data entry. There is the general structure and formulas that form the template, plus cells into which the user should enter data. I am making modifications to this template based on lessons learned while using this template in 4 case studies. The problem I am facing is that any change I make to the template also needs to be replicated across all four different versions of the case study workbooks (they are necessarily different because the entered data is different). This is very time consuming and prone to errors. I am making structural changes (adding/deleting rows), format changes, and content changes to formulas. To keep things manageable, I often hide sheets that I'm not working with.
I tried recording a macro in the template workbook and then running it on one of the case study workbooks, but it didn't work out. I am a total beginner at macros, so I may have misunderstood how it should work.
When I tried to do some copy/pasting I ended up with a problem where the formulas in the workbook I pasted into referred to cells in the original workbook that I copied from, so I had to use find/replace to delete all the external references in the formulas. Not ideal.
Can anybody point me in the direction of a guide to best practices when managing multiple versions of a workbook and needing to ensure some (not all) changes are mirrored/replicated in all versions?
Bookmarks