what i did after nearly punching myself in the face in frustration, ='Data List'!A3 . data list is my sheet name.
but then i wanted it to update constantly and data list holds a table and i can't table, so i dragged the formula down a row of boxes so that they'd match even if data list got updated.
if you do the same, you'll realise that the empty boxes in data list gives you a 0 with the formula.
so i did this =IF(ISBLANK('Data List'!A3),"",'Data List'!A3) interpretation: if data list box a3 is empty, don't give me anything. if it's not, give me what data list a3 has.
not very savvy, but this is what i did with my noob excel skills.