Amen to that. When I started in IT, I was charged with writing reports in a
report query language similar to IB's Focus. There was a lady in the firm
who was an expert, and whenever I had a problem, I asked her advice. She
once complained to me that whenever I took a problem to her, I ended up
solving it as I explained it. But as I said to her, knowing how good and how
precise she was made me gather the facts more rigorously, and explaining it
and answering her questions gave me extra insight. She may not have solved
them, but she did assist me enormously.

--
HTH

Bob Phillips

"Sue" wrote in message
...
Hi Bob,
Thanks for the advice. Makes alot of sense. Sometimes it helps having an
extra brain 'cause can't you see the forest for the trees.
Appreciate the help greatly
Sue


"Bob Phillips" wrote:

Why don't you put this part of the formula

VLOOKUP(C8,'C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\Makin Life
Easy\[Family Contributions 2005.xls]Girls Term 1'!$C$4:$T$40,18,0))

as a separate formula in another cell, say H10,

VLOOKUP(C8,'C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\Makin'' Life
Easy\[Family Contributions 2005.xls]Girls Term 1'!$C$4:$T$40,18,0))

as asparate formula in say I10

VLOOKUP(C8,'C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\Makin'' Life
Easy\[Family Contributions 2005.xls]Boys Term 1'!$C$4:$T$40,18,0))

as aseparate formula in say J10

VLOOKUP(C8,'C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\Makin'' Life
Easy\[Family Contributions 2005.xls]Boys Term 1 (pg
2)'!$C$5:$T$40,18,0))

as a separate formula in K10

and then you can use


=IF(ISERROR(H10,0,(H10)+IF(ISERROR(I10),0,(I10))+I F(ISERROR(J10,0,(J10)+IF(I
SERROR(K10,0,(K10)

Much more maintainable.

--
HTH

Bob Phillips

"Sue" wrote in message
...
I am using a formula to gather info from 4 worksheets in a separate
workbook
but same folder and am getting an error of formula too long. Can
anyone
help
with an alternative formula that will do the same thing.
My formula is as follows:
=IF(ISERROR(VLOOKUP(C8,'C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My
Documents\Makin''
Life Easy\[Family Contributions 2005.xls]Girls Term
1'!$C$4:$T$40,18,0)),0,(VLOOKUP(C8,'C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My
Documents\Makin'' Life Easy\[Family Contributions 2005.xls]Girls Term
1'!$C$4:$T$40,18,0)))+IF(ISERROR(VLOOKUP(C8,'C:\Do cuments and
Settings\Owner\My Documents\Makin'' Life Easy\[Family Contributions
2005.xls]Girls Term 1 (Pg
2)'!$C$5:$T$40,18,0)),0,(VLOOKUP(C8,'C:\Documents
and Settings\Owner\My Documents\Makin'' Life Easy\[Family
Contributions
2005.xls]Girls Term 1 (Pg
2)'!$C$5:$T$40,18,0)))+IF(ISERROR(VLOOKUP(C8,'C:\D ocuments and
Settings\Owner\My Documents\Makin'' Life Easy\[Family Contributions
2005.xls]Boys Term 1'!$C$4:$T$40,18,0)),0,(VLOOKUP(C8,'C:\Documents
and
Settings\Owner\My Documents\Makin'' Life Easy\[Family Contributions
2005.xls]Boys Term
1'!$C$4:$T$40,18,0)))+IF(ISERROR(VLOOKUP(C8,'C:\Do cuments
and Settings\Owner\My Documents\Makin'' Life Easy\[Family
Contributions
2005.xls]Boys Term 1 (pg
2)'!$C$5:$T$40,18,0)),0,(VLOOKUP(C8,'C:\Documents
and Settings\Owner\My Documents\Makin'' Life Easy\[Family
Contributions
2005.xls]Boys Term 1 (pg 2)'!$C$5:$T$40,18,0)))