Great, thank you for the input- I can definitely mimic that process. Now I'm
noodling whether I should (or even could) just replicate those same steps in
VBA, like a poor man's version of Rob Bovey's code cleaner, only for the
non-VBA side of the workbook. I don't know that I'm advanced enough to
replicate graphs (just for lack of experience with the graph object model)
but the rest of it seems fairly straightforward. Maybe next year, when I
have more time ;-)

Thanks again Jon-

Keith

"Jon Peltier" wrote in message
...
I always start with a new workbook with as many blank sheets as the
original. I name the sheets to match, copy each original sheet, then paste
special formulas and paste special formats into the new sheet. Sometimes I
have to paste special other things as well, for example, comments. Along
the way I make sure that any names have been defined in the new workbook.
Since it's often the charts that go sour, I rebuild all the charts, which
can be the most tedious part.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com
_______


"Keith R" wrote in message
...
Jon- thank you for your reply.

Since my workbook is also 'misbehaving' (bloat, plus this graph source
data reference issue), do you have any suggestions for the easiest way to
rebuild a workbook? I'm not sure if I should just copy/paste each sheet
into a fresh workbook (fixing formulas along the way so they don't point
to the old workbook), or if there is anything else I need to do.

Thank you for any advice,
Keith

"Jon Peltier" wrote in message
...
'workbookname.xls'!named_range
and
'worksheetname'!named_range

both still autotransform to
workbookname.xls!named_range

Probably because your name is a workbook-level name. You can access a
workbook level name in some cases (i.e,. chart series formulas and
source data input boxes) even by prefixing with the worksheet name.

The other day I rebuilt a client's workbook, which was misbehaving
(names, bloat, array formulas, and much more, but fortunately not a lot
of off-sheet links to get wrong the first three times), and would crash
every five minutes. Whatever was wrong hasn't been back.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com
_______


"Keith R" wrote in message
...
Jon- thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, this is in Excel 2003
(sorry I forgot to mention that in my original post). It is
discouraging to think that the problem is the same (or worse) in 2007.
I saved the file under a new filename, but find that both

'workbookname.xls'!named_range
and
'worksheetname'!named_range

both still autotransform to
workbookname.xls!named_range

which then gives the same symptom, where Excel doesn't consider it a
valid formula.

At this point, I'm inclined to rebuild the workbook (it is bloating as
well) so maybe I'll get lucky and the problem will dissapear when I do
so. I'll open a separate thread in Excel.misc to ask for any
tips/tricks on how to unbloat workbooks without messing up cross-sheet
formulas, etc.

Thanks,
Keith

"Jon Peltier" wrote in message
...
Is this Excel 2007? I ran across some issues in this release with
names as chart source data, getting error messages even though the
ranges were valid and the charts updated appropriately. Apparently
saving the workbook with a different name, then quitting and
restarting Excel and reopening the newly named workbook, fixed it.

I've run across other issues in 2007 with names being accepted and
charts not updating until they were saved (not saved as something
else) and reopened. This occurs with only workbook or worksheet level
names, I forget which.

Still some rough edges.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com
_______


"Keith R" wrote in
message ...
v11.xls is the workbook name
Graphs is the graphs worksheet name
Main Data is the data worksheet name

When I replace =v11.xls!A_ with ='Main Data'!A_ it accepts it as a
valid range, and the moment I go back into source data to look at it,
it has been automatically updated to =v11.xls!A_ ...and if I click
into this updated name, it still gives me the 'formula contains an
error' message

This is very confusing to me :-(

Thanks for any advice,
Keith

"Keith R" wrote in
message ...
Based on Steve Bullen's FunChart1 example (in that particular
example, auto-expanding named ranges) I've set up some graphs that
used named ranges as their data source. I copied the worksheet of
graphs into a new workbook and now have global named ranges that
match the graphs' original named ranges (using Jon Peltier's
suggestion to use Jan Pieterse et al's Name Manager v4.0, in which I
removed all the sheet named ranges which were duplicates, leaving me
with just one set of global named ranges)

The graphs, which still have their original named range sources,
update when the raw data updates- but I am unable to edit the named
range for any charts. If I click into the source data entry box
(series/values) and try to click out, I get an error message
(formula contains an error). The references are simple (=v11.xls!A_,
=v11.xls!B_, etc.) and the named ranges point to valid ranges of
data (and the graphs update when the raw data is updated).

A_ =INDIRECT("'MAIN DATA'!$BA$" & Graphs!$A$4 & ":$BA$" &
Graphs!$B$4)
B_ =OFFSET(A_,0,1)
C_ =OFFSET(A_,0,2)
etc.
(all show the target data range correctly when I click in the range
box of the named range dialogue)

Based on the original problem with the named ranges, is there
anything that might be residually causing problems with the graphs?
Any ideas what else I should check?

Thank you very much,
Keith