Can you concatenated a workbook name into a formula?

[rizzo93]

I have a formula that needs to reference another worksheet selected by the user. The name of this worksheet will always be different, so I need an adaptable solution.

The good news is that by using VBA I will know what the name of the file is. I've tried writing that name to a cell in my workbook and altered the formula to concatenate the file name into it. But that throws and error.

This is my attempt at concatenating the name:

=IF(B2="","",IF(SUM(COUNTIF[COLOR=#000000]([/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000]"["&G1&"]"&[/COLOR]Vortex!$L:$L,B2),COUNTIF[COLOR=#000000]([/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000]"["&G1&"]"&[/COLOR]Vortex!$N:$N,B2),COUNTIF[COLOR=#000000]([/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000]"["&G1&"]"&[/COLOR]Vortex!$P:$P,B2),COUNTIF[COLOR=#000000]([/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000]"["&G1&"]"&[/COLOR]Vortex!$R:$R,B2),COUNTIF[COLOR=#000000]([/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000]"["&G1&"]"&[/COLOR]Vortex!$T:$T,B2),COUNTIF[COLOR=#ff0000]("["&G1&"]"&[/COLOR]Vortex!$V:$V,B2))>0,"P","O"))

This is the formula that works when I manually enter the name of the other workbook:

=IF(B2="","",IF(SUM(COUNTIF[COLOR=#000000]([/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000][Feb3_Mar2.xlsx][/COLOR]Vortex!$L:$L,B2),COUNTIF[COLOR=#000000]([/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000][Feb3_Mar2.xlsx][/COLOR]Vortex!$N:$N,B2),COUNTIF[COLOR=#000000]([/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000][Feb3_Mar2.xlsx][/COLOR]Vortex!$P:$P,B2),COUNTIF[COLOR=#000000]([/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000][Feb3_Mar2.xlsx][/COLOR]Vortex!$R:$R,B2),COUNTIF[COLOR=#000000]([/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000][Feb3_Mar2.xlsx][/COLOR]Vortex!$T:$T,B2),COUNTIF[COLOR=#000000]([/COLOR][COLOR=#ff0000][Feb3_Mar2.xlsx][/COLOR]Vortex!$V:$V,B2))>0,"P","O"))

How can I do this please?

 

[JLGWhiz]

I don't believe it will allow you to use a cell reference for the workbook name. I have tried seferal different methods of using a cell reference and they all produce either a Ref Or Name error. the formula parser shows that part of the statement as invalid.

 

[rizzo93]

I was afraid of that, but thanks for confirming it wasn't just me.

 

[Eric W]

If the other workbook is open, you can try INDIRECT, something like:

...COUNTIF(INDIRECT("["&G1&"]Vortex!$L:$L"),B2)...

INDIRECT won't work on closed workbooks though.

 

[rizzo93]

Hey, thanks Eric!

Unfortunately, it still didn't work for me. I think the problem is that the cell reference containing the name translates to "Feb3_Mar2", and that's with the quotation marks:

....INDIRECT("["&"Feb3_Mar2"&"]Vortex!$L:$L")....

Unless I'm overlooking something?

 

[JLGWhiz]

you need the complete file name in G1, includihng the extension, and it will work. If you do not have quotation marks in the cell, Excel should not be putting them ohn for you. If you do have them in G1 then remove them and try the formula.

@Eric W, I didn't think about about Indirect.

 

[Eric W]

To get rid of the " marks, you may have to use SUBSTITUTE. And like JLGWhiz said, you'll need the extension, so something like this:

...INDIRECT("["&SUBSTITUTE(G1,"""","")&".xlsx]Vortex!$L:$L")...