Google Spreadsheet Import Range #REF! Error (Randomly)

Question

This problem has been persistent for a while, just happens every so often at random times, nothing changing. I also do not know how to reproduce the problem, but I\'ll give a de

Answer 1

The problems with the IMPORTRANGE() function has been somewhat of an ongoing issue. There have been several bugs over the years and it is up to Google to find a stable solution so it works as designed.

Until then, this might help you:

Instead of editing the cell, creating a new spreadsheet, or doing anything else to have the sheet reattempt the function (almost like playing lottery), you can force Google sheets to reattempt the function automatically when it fails to load:

Wrap the IMPORTRANGE() function that is causing problems with an IFERROR() function. That way, the sheet attempts the import, and only if it fails, it attempts it again. The function can be nested to attempt several times in a row.

You can add named ranges to your source data (right-click-source>define-named-range) to facilitate. For instance, you can create 3 different named ranges for the "J:J" range. Call them "J", "Ja", and "Jay", then you call on your IFERROR() function in the sheet you want to import to:

=IFERROR( IMPORTRANGE( "SheetID","J" ), IFERROR( IMPORTRANGE( "SheetID","Ja" ), IFERROR( IMPORTRANGE( "SheetID","Jay" ), IFERROR( IMPORTRANGE( "SheetID", "'TabName'!J:J" ), IFERROR( IMPORTRANGE( "SheetID", "'TabName'!j:j" )))))

This formula will attempt your import and deliver it if it succeeds, and if not reattempts a total of 5 times in a row automatically, which doesn't guarantee you will succeed, but if you have a 50% chance of success with your imports, nesting 5 in a row should give you a 96% chance, which is a lot better. My personal experience has been that it hasn't failed since I've done the IFERROR() nest.

Hope it helps.