Missing references can have unexpected symptoms. Often what happens is that
the string manipulation functions, like Left(), Right(), Mid(), etc., will
seem to be broken, and you will get compile errors, unless you include a
prefix: Strings.Left(). This is a core VBA library, and it's not broken. But
it's like a canary keeled over in a coal mine, letting you know to check
other references.

- Jon
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Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com
_______


wrote in message
ups.com...
The mystery appears to be solved.

I went hunting for anything that looked out of place.

The Analysis Toolpack reference was "missing". Ticked ATP VBA addin in
Excel. Restart. No more errors in modules without "Option Explicit".
So, it WAS being caused by an addin (sorta).

No idea why it was throwing the undefined variable error instead of the
"can't find project or library" error. Any ideas why? Anyone else see
a missing reference manifest this way?