John,

You're not doing anything wrong. Both sheets need to be open for Excel to know that something has
moved...

The better alternative is to use formulas that find your moving cell: match/index/vlookup etc...

HTH,
Bernie
MS Excel MVP


"johnc" wrote in message
...
I'm linking one cell in excel to another cell in a seperate spread sheet and
using the absolute reference $ to allow the formula to move when the source
cell moves. This doesn't work unless both spread sheets are open when the
cell is moved.
What am I doing wrong?