XL2000: Error Message: Your Formula Contains an Invalid External Reference to a Worksheet

View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q213900

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.

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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.

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Workaround

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

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Status

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

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More information

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

/
?
*
[
]

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References

For more information about renaming worksheets, click Microsoft Excel Help on the Help menu, type rename a sheet in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.

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