How do I reduce cross-sheet references? My sheet tells me I have reached the max. number

Connie P

Paul Newcome

Ok. So what happens is old cross sheet references are maintained on the back-end for a bit in case you end up needing to use them again. If you right click on any cell within the sheet and then select "Manage References", it should pull up a list of all existing cross sheet references. You can delete the unused ones from here to free up a little space more immediately.

Paul Newcome

It depends on what they are and how they are being used. We would need more detail to be able to help anymore than that. Do you have any that are being used in INDEX/MATCH formulas? Those are generally the "easiest" to consolidate.

Connie P

Hi Paul. Thanks for trying to help. Forgive my ignorance but I am not sure what an Index/Match formula is. Any way we could zoom and I could share my screen with you to show you the problem? I am trying to revise a course registration sheet that pulls from a program roster (with student names, emails, etc.), a Fall 2025 class schedule and a list of courses. Until now I have been able to revise the formulas every semester at the end of the sheet and have had no problems. This is the first time I am being told that I am unable to create cross-sheet reference because this sheet already contains the max number of different cross-sheet references. I am really confused. As you can tell, I am not a Smartsheet expert. Can you help? My email is cperkins@calstate.edu

Paul Newcome

Are you able to provide some screenshots for context? What are the formulas you are revising?

Connie P

Hi Paul. Yes, I can provide some screenshots. The formulas I am revising are within the registration form and pulled from the new Fall 2025 class schedule (instead of Spring 2024).

Screenshot of Course Registration Smartsheet problem.png

Connie P

Hi Paul. The Course Registration Sheet allowed me to revise the instructor email, the instructor and the class dates but when I proceeded to update the days of the week, I got that awful message about having too many cross reference sheets! Hopefully you can see from the various screenshots the formulas that I was able to insert for Fall 2025 and also the old form for Spring 2025 that for now, I am not able to replace with the new Fall 2025 formulas. What a mess.

Connie

Paul Newcome

Ok. So what happens is old cross sheet references are maintained on the back-end for a bit in case you end up needing to use them again. If you right click on any cell within the sheet and then select "Manage References", it should pull up a list of all existing cross sheet references. You can delete the unused ones from here to free up a little space more immediately.

Connie P

Thank you, Paul. You have been so helpful. Tomorrow morning I will proceed as per your instructions and move forward with revising the formulas, once I remove the old sheets that I no longer need. You are indeed a Smartsheet champion!

Best regards,

Connie

Paul Newcome

Happy to help. 👍️