Use a range in the drop down list workbook that directly references the range
in the 'closed' workbook, i.e.,

='[other book.xls]Sheet1'!A1
='[other book.xls]Sheet1'!A2

These formulas will work, even with 'other book.xls' closed, and use this
range of formulas as the list for your dropdown



"Profnutbutter" wrote:

I need to have a file that stores a list of projects. This file will be
updated on a regular basis. In another file I need to have that list
populated into a drop down selection. When the user opens the file it should
auto update any changes to the project list that is in the different file. I
have tried to do it using data validation but it will only pull the values in
if I have both files currently open. I would like to have the project list
file closed on a network and have the other sheet still pull the info in.

How can I get this to work?