i am having all kinds of problems coming up with a user-friendly
method of distributing add-ins. here's what i'm trying to do:

i have a set of statistical functions coded in a .XLA, and i have a
number of different spreadsheets that make use of those functions. i
want to distribute these files so that the user goes thru some type of
simple process to install the .XLA (hopefully just copying the file to
a particular folder), and once s/he has done that, can then seamlessly
open and use the distributed spreadsheets. further, the user will also
be creating new spreadsheets referencing these functions, which in
turn may be distributed to other people (who will also have installed
the .XLA).

i have to believe there's an easy way to accomplish this, but for the
life of me i can't find it. i've tried storing the .XLA to the users
"addins" folder and then using TOOLS | ADD-INS to set up the add-in,
but that leaves each .XLS that uses the add-in with a hard-coded
reference to the file location of the .XLA file -- and thus creates
errors when the .XLS is opened by a different user on a different
computer. i then thought i could circumvent that problem by using the
"xlstart" folder instead, but alas -- that also creates a hard-coded
reference that causes errors on a different computer where the
"xlstart" folder is in a different location.

finally, i thought i could out-fox excel by simply forcing the user to
create a specific folder (i.e., C:\EXCEL ADDINS) and storing and
referencing the add-in file there, but even that approach has
problems. when i use this approach, a spreadsheet created on a
different computer will open fine (i.e., no errors about not being
able to find the add-in), but when you close it you always get the "do
you want to save changes" message -- even if you have done absolutely
nothing at all to the spreadsheet! admittedly, this is minor but
unfortunately not very acceptable to the end users. and i also wonder
just what the ramifications of that message are -- is there something
else going on that i'm not aware of that is going to bite me in the
rear later on?

i can't believe this whole process of using add-ins is this
convoluted. any help here would be appreciated!

lee