Hi Harlan
[...]
this does not look like a valid formula. I'd guess it should
read:
VLOOKUP(D$2,'[Joblist.xls]Sheet1'!$A$2:$B$301,2,FALSE)

Wrong. As long as this file is open, the colon is syntactically an
operator with the arguments
'[Joblist.xls]Sheet1'!$A$2
and
'[Joblist.xls]Sheet1'!$B$301
which are range references on the same worksheet in the same
workbook,
so
'[Joblist.xls]Sheet1'!$A$2:'[Joblist.xls]Sheet1'!$B$301
is the 'runtime' constructed smallest single area range containing
both ranges, which happens to be identical to
'[Joblist.xls]Sheet1'!$A$2:$B$301

thanks for this clarification. Should have tested it before guessing
:-)

Frank