I am trying o set up a 'Database' workbook spreadsheet which contains names,
countries, etc. which will validate entries on a number of separate workbook
(Forms).
This 'Database' workbook will be updated constantly-ish (by me) and need to
feed into the drop-down menus of the other workbooks (to be used by a number
of people on a read-only basis). All these files will be located in the same
folder.

The reason why I need this 'database' it is because it contains information
that more than one type of workbooks (forms) will be asking for and I do not
want to set up a range within each 'form' with validation data as it means I
will have to update every single 'form' constantly (over 15).

I need help on deciding what to use (and how to use it), as I cannot set up
'names' from other workbooks and data validation from other workbooks do not
seem to work either

Thanks so much in advance for your help.

Juan