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Let’s say you opened your spreadsheet and found out that all your IMPORTRANGE formulas were not working? The previously imported data disappeared and refreshing won’t help get it back. Many Google Sheets users have already suffered from this known IMPORTRANGE drawback. To avoid it, you’d better use an alternative solution, which turns your spreadsheet into a sort of relational database. We’ll show you how to do this a bit later. But for now, let’s troubleshoot your IMPORTRANGE formula and fix the current error.

Common IMPORTRANGE internal errors

The common IMPORTRANGE errors are #ERROR! and #REF!. You can either read how to fix them or watch the video tutorial on the IMPORTRANGE function by Railsware Product Academy or do both. It’s up to you 🙂

#1 IMPORTRANGE #ERROR! – Formula parse error IMPORTRANGE

It’s kid’s stuff! Formula parse error means that you’ve made a mistake in the IMPORTRANGE formula syntax.

How to fix

Verify the formula syntax. Make sure to also validate the ID of the spreadsheet, as well as the sheet name specified in the range. These are the most common reasons for the formula parse error.

#2 IMPORTRANGE #REF! – Permission error or You don’t have permissions to access that sheet

This error states that “You don't have permissions to access that sheet.” In most cases, this means that you’re trying to import data from an unshared Google Sheets doc that is not stored on your Google Drive. 

How to fix

Share the source spreadsheet with the owner of the target spreadsheet or make the file shareable with “Anyone with the link.“

#3 IMPORTRANGE #REF! – Allow access or You need to connect these sheets

This is more of a warning than an error. When you import a range from an unshared Google Sheets document stored on your Google Drive, IMPORTRANGE will require you to connect the source and the target sheets.

How to fix

Click the Allow access button to connect the sheets.

#4 IMPORTRANGE #Error! – IMPORTRANGE Result too large

You’ll see this error when you’re importing too many cells. Unfortunately, the exact amount of cells you can import with IMPORTRANGE is undisclosed. In our example, we tried to import 60 columns and 6000 rows (360,000 cells). After we decreased the data range to 4300 rows (258,000 cells), the IMPORTRANGE formula worked. 

How to fix

Split the data range into two or more pieces, either vertically (by rows) or horizontally (by columns). Nest IMPORTRANGE formulas for each piece within the ARRAYFORMULA function as follows:

For horizontally split pieces (use commas between IMPORTRANGE formulas):

=ARRAYFORMULA({IMPORTRANGE("sheet-id","data-range-piece#1"),IMPORTRANGE("sheet-id","data-range-piece#2"),...})

For vertically split pieces (use semicolons between IMPORTRANGE formulas):

=ARRAYFORMULA({IMPORTRANGE("sheet-id","data-range-piece#1);"IMPORTRANGE("sheet-id","data-range-piece#2");...})

For example, here is a failed IMPORTRANGE formula:

=importrange("1bS7FGBbA7nInZJ2VBMaPxqf5B35RXpn-Z3vEcHlTwQo","Data!A:BH")

We split the data range "Data!A:BH" by columns into "Data!A:AM" and "Data!AN:BH" and applied the following formula:

=arrayformula({importrange("1bS7FGBbA7nInZJ2VBMaPxqf5B35RXpn-Z3vEcHlTwQo", "Data!A:AM"),importrange("1bS7FGBbA7nInZJ2VBMaPxqf5B35RXpn-Z3vEcHlTwQo", "Data!AN:BH")})

#5 IMPORTRANGE #REF! cannot find range or sheet for imported range

If you see the #REF! Error with a note “Cannot find range or sheet for imported range”, it’s most likely that either the sheet name is misspelled or you entered a wrong range. 

If the formula worked before and then you saw this error, then the sheet was probably renamed or deleted, or the spreadsheet was removed. 

How to fix

First of all, double-check the name of the sheet (both in the IMPORTRANGE formula and in your source spreadsheet) and the range you entered. In the vast majority of cases, this is the reason for this internal IMPORTRANGE error.

#6 IMPORTRANGE #REF! – Frozen formulas 

This glitch is well known among Google Sheets users. Yesterday, your IMPORTRANGE formulas worked well. Today, they return #REF! and seem to be broken for no reason. 

It happens randomly and sometimes fixes itself. For many years, Google has failed to find a stable solution to get rid of this ongoing issue with IMPORTRANGE. 

How to fix

There are many approaches to fixing this issue:

• Hard refresh of the sheet and/or browser
• Re-adding the IMPORTRANGE formula to the same cell (use the Google Sheets shortcuts Ctrl+X and then Ctrl+V or clear the cell and use Ctrl+Z to restore it)
• Nest IMPORTRANGE with IFERROR

=IFERROR(IMPORTRANGE("sheet-id","range"))

The sheet will reattempt the data import again and again automatically.

• Use the =now() trick:
  • Insert a NOW formula (=now()) in a random cell of the source and target spreadsheets
  • Insert an IMPORTRANGE formula that references the NOW formula of the other spreadsheet
  • Go to File => Spreadsheet settings => Calculation and select Recalculation “On change and every minute“
• Split large chunks of data into pieces using ARRAYFORMULA + IMPORTRANGE, just like with Error! Result too large. 

If you know other solutions/approaches to dealing with IMPORTRANGE #REF!, please share them with us to include in the article. 

If you need more information about this function, check out our IMPORTRANGE Tutorial.

How to fix all IMPORTRANGE errors at once: A peace of mind solution

The best way to fix IMPORTRANGE fails is to avoid them. Let’s say you have 100 source sheets from which you import data to 30 sheets using IMPORTRANGE formulas. From the target sheets, you import data to another 10 sheets again with IMPORTRANGE. If all these formulas are stuck, you will face issues with troubleshooting and fixing them! 

IMPORTRANGE is a function, and it takes some time to process calculations, which slows down the general performance of a spreadsheet. Instead, you can use the IMPORTRANGE alternative – Google Sheets integration. It is free of the mentioned IMPORTRANGE performance issues since no calculations are performed in the spreadsheet. It pulls the static data and saves it in your spreadsheet, just in case anything goes wrong.

To set up the Google Sheets integration, you need Coupler.io, a solution to import data from third-party data sources such as spreadsheets, CSV files, and numerous apps. It is available as a web app and a Google Sheets add-on. For the latter, you’ll need to install Coupler.io the add-on from the Google Workspace Marketplace.

Import data between Google Sheets with Google Sheets integration

Sign up to Coupler.io, click Add new importer, then select Google Sheets as both source and destination apps.

Complete the setup as follows:

Source

• Connect to your Google account and select a file on your Google Drive and a sheet to transfer data from. You can select multiple sheets that will be merged into one master view.

Optionally, you can choose a range in the spreadsheet you want to export data from, i.e. A1:Z9.

Destination

• Connect to your Google account and select a file on your Google Drive and a sheet to transfer data to. You can select an existing sheet, or enter a name to create a new one. 

Optionally, you can choose the import mode for your data: you can replace your previous information or append new rows under the last imported entries. Read more about optional destination setup features.

You can run the import right away if you click Save and Run. If you want to automate data import on a schedule, toggle on the Automatic data refresh and customize the schedule.

Schedule

• Select Interval (from 15 minutes to every month)
• Select Days of the week
• Select Time preferences
• Schedule Time zone

In the end, click Save & Run and welcome your data to the spreadsheet. 

IMPORTRANGE or Coupler.io: Which is better?

You’d better say NO to IMPORTRANGE and YES to Coupler.io if:

• You import data recurrently
• You import huge amounts of data
• You import data from other sources like CSV, Pipedrive, etc.
• It’s crucial for you to have access to data no matter what
• You’re already tired of IMPORTRANGE issues

In all other cases, you can go with IMPORTRANGE easily because it’s a good function, though not reliable at all. Make the right choice and good luck with your data!

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