If I understand what you are asking. Rather than have one workbook per
person as now, have one sheet per person in a single workbook?

It is possible but consider, the number of worksheets in one workbook is
limited (Excel 2003) by memory. Also the file size could grow
significantly. The upside is that having all the data in one workbook
should speed up access and make maintenance simpler.

To access a specific named range on sheet named Bob, the formula would be
=Bob!Jan_Tot_Loan

You could use a template.xlt file to create new workbooks with the same
formulas, formats etc., for new people. OR if in the same workbook a new
worksheet created for a new user.

The solution depends on the number of names you are likely to need, the
maintenance issue - for example if you wanted to add a new set of data? in
the same workbook it would be reasonably easy in separate workbooks a bit
more difficult, and also consider the memory - workbook size.

--
Cheers
Nigel



"Gary Keramidas" wrote in message
...
or even worthwhile?

i have a summary sheet with sheet names representing people's names. so,
john, martha and so on.

then john and martha have separate workbooks in the same folder, named
john
and martha.

so a formula in the summary sheet named Bob would be something like this:
N:\My Documents\Excel\Bob.xls'!Jan_Tot_Loan

would it be advantageous to have the bob.xls part generated from the
sheetname(Bob)? if so, what would the formula look like?

that way, if bill was hired, i have a blank sheet i can copy for bill to
enter his data, and then only have to add a sheet named bill, and copy
all
the formulas from bob's sheet and they would just work because of the new
sheet name being bill?
now i do a search and replace for the name.

just wondering



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Gary