Sorry Bob - I do appreciate ur help but now I'm very confused,
maybe if I explain 'the whole picture' you can come up with some better code??
I have a menu on my personal toolbar with 3 options
1) create new log
2) view today's log
3) vire historic log

so what I requie is :-
in option1 for the user to be able to create a log, which is a copy of my
'master log' worksheet and rename this new sheet as today's date. However if
a log has already been opened for 'today' a msg box advising the user so and
if they wish to view it.
in option2 for the user to be able to view todays log (ie a search for a log
named 'todays date') - again if one not found then a msg box advising so and
a further option to create one.in option3 a msg box to alow the user to input
a date eg 13Jul and a search is carried out for that named worksheet if found
it is displayed - if not a msg box advising so.

I Hope this has made my final goal more understanable and I would be very
very very gratful for any code you could provide.
Thanks for your understanding
Anthony