Correct, the other workbooks will not be open, so I will have to work with a
different approach.

"Harlan Grove" wrote:

Elkar wrote...
Use the INDIRECT function. Let's say your vaiable name is stored in
cell A1.

=INDIRECT("L:\Budget\2008\"&$A$1&"\["&$A$1&"2008Budget.xls]Consolidated!C10)
....

INDIRECT for external references ONLY works when the other workbooks
are open in the same Excel instance. However, when workbooks are open,
Excel doesn't require (and doesn't display) the drive/directory path
because it can only open one file with a given base filename at a
time. Therefore, if the OP's workbooks would be open, the formula may
be shortened to

=INDIRECT("'["&$A$1&"2008Budget.xls]Consolidated'!C10")

However, if these other files would be closed, your INDIRECT formula
will return #REF! errors.

There are work-arounds.

http://www.google.com/groups?selm=hk...wsranger.c om