You can definitely protect the file references, but at a cost.

=INDIRECT("'G:\[Book1.xls]Sheet1'!$C$20")

protects the mapped drive G:
but
for this approach to work, the referenced file must be open.

--
Gary''s Student - gsnu200744


"DVENNER" wrote:

In Excel 97, a user opens a 97 saved spreadsheet which has references to
other spreadsheets to gather data. The cell references have changed their
path (by themselves) from mapped drive specified paths (i.e. s:\path) to unc
path (\\server\path). As a result the cell references don't work. The files
have not been moved or opened and saved in another version of excel.

Does any body have any ideas why this has happened and what can be done to
correct the problem.

Thanks