Error Message: Your Formula Contains an Invalid External Reference to a Worksheet (175856)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

This article was previously published under Q175856

SYMPTOMS

When you type a new formula or edit an existing formula in a Microsoft Excel worksheet, you may receive the following error message:

Your formula contains an invalid external reference to a worksheet.

Verify that the path, workbook, and range name or cell reference are correct, and try again.

CAUSE

This problem occurs when you type a formula that refers to a worksheet with a name that contains a left bracket ([) or right bracket (]) character.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, remove the bracket character from the name of the worksheet that you are referencing in your formula.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

The following characters are not valid characters to use in worksheet names:

/
?
*
[
]

REFERENCES

For more information about renaming worksheets, click the Index tab in Microsoft Excel Help, type the following text

renaming, worksheets

and then double-click the selected text to go to the "Rename a sheet" topic.

Modification Type:	Minor	Last Reviewed:	8/19/2003
Keywords:	kbbug kbpending KB175856