Yes but only by using VBA...The following will increment the value in cell L1
on Sheet1 by one every time the workbook is open.

Private Sub Workbook_Open()
Sheets("Sheet1").Range("L1").Select
ActiveCell.Value = ActiveCell.Value + 1

End Sub

"Paul" wrote:

hi,
is there a way that excel would generate a different number ( incremented by
one) each time a workbook is opened?
thanks
paul