A little experimenting will help you determine what works for you.

But I wouldn't use an apostrophe to make a formula text. I'd use a different
character string:

$$$$$='results.csv!$b1

The leading apostrophe is difficult to change (as you've seen) and has some bad
side effects--a lingering
prefixcharacter problem.


teepee wrote:

I have a formula with an apostrophe, but it's not a leading apostrophe.

='results.csv!$B1

I wrote it this way for reasons I won't bore you with, but there is a good
reason. The idea is that a particular moment I can take out the apostrophe
using find/replace and thus activate the formula.

I know removing the apostrophe by using find/replace doesn't work on leading
apostrophes, but it does work on non-leading apostrophes in some
circumstances. Does anyone know what those criteria are? On some
spreadsheets it works, on others it doesn't.

--

Dave Peterson