ID: Q175856
The information in this article applies to:
When you enter 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.
This problem occurs when you enter a formula that refers to a worksheet with a name that contains a left bracket ([) or right bracket (]) character.
To work around this problem, remove the bracket character from the name of the worksheet that you are referencing in your formula.
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.
The following characters are not valid characters to use in worksheet names:
/
?
*
[
]
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.
Additional query words: XL97 XL98 square
Keywords : xlui xlformula
Version : WINDOWS:97; MACINTOSH:98
Platform : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type : kbbug
Last Reviewed: January 9, 1999