Good day,

I have a source workbook (ITEM_DBASE) that has about 23K lines of data; I
want to use VLOOKUP in a second workbook (COST) to grab data from ITEM_DBASE.

I have tried directly referencing the ITEM_DBASE array
(...path\[file]!UL:BR), as well as naming the array in ITEM_DBASE and
referencing the name in the function, as well as naming the array in COST and
then referencing *that* name in the function. Varying degrees of elegance,
with no difference in frustration.

It has been inferred here that the source book needn't be open for the
VLOOKUP function to work. I seem to recall reading in the Help some time ago
that the source book had to be open, and this is supported by when I have
trouble (ITEM_DBASE closed) and when I don't (ITEM_DBASE open). When I close
ITEM_DBASE I get the 'Excel cannot complete this task with available
resources' error and then the linking stops working.

So, I wonder if there is some subtlety that I'm not exploiting that allows
my LOOKUP functions to correctly acess a table_array in a closed workbook? It
seems silly to want the source workbook closed, but that's how the boss wants
it....

Thanks in advance for your time.