Grymjack wrote...
....
That did it!! Though I'm at kind of a loss why that will work when the
full path variable wont!?! ....
A1 = [TestBook.xls]Sheet1!B1
A2 = [TestBook.xls]Sheet1!B10
=SUM(INDIRECT(A1&":"&A2))
....
Remove the SUM and INDIRECT calls and =A1&":"&A2 gives
[TestBook.xls]Sheet1!B1:[TestBook.xls]Sheet1!B10
This *is* a valid reference *EXPRESSION* if used directly in a formula.
That is, if TestBook.xls were open, the formula
=SUM([TestBook.xls]Sheet1!B1:[TestBook.xls]Sheet1!B10)
would return the same result as
=SUM([TestBook.xls]Sheet1!B1:B10)
But that's due to ambiguity in Excel's reference syntax. Colon, :, is
overloaded. It's used both in single area range references like B1:B10
and as a range accumulation operator in range references like A4:C5:F3,
which is equivalent to A3:F5. A rule of thumb is that when there's only
one colon in a range reference, and the right side of the range
reference is just a cell reference with no workbook/worksheet portion,
then the range reference is treated like a constant, but if there are
multiple colons or any cell reference to the right of any of the colons
includes a workbook/worksheet portion, the range reference is treated
like an expression. INDIRECT can handle range 'constants' but not range
'expressions', meaning what's on the right of the colon can only be a
simple cell address.