Scope of range names different in 2008?

[sflaherty]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I have a workbook made of sheets with the same format, but drawing from different data. So I have a template sheet that I duplicate and point to new data. Many of the formulas rely on named ranges. In 2004 I could duplicate the template sheet within the workbook and the duplicate sheet would have the same named ranges.

In 2008, however, some of the names are missing on the duplicated sheet. Has something changed about the scope of names so that they're more global? Is there such a thing as a "local" name (unique within a sheet) and a "global" name (unique within a workbook)?

Thanks,
Sean

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I have a workbook made of sheets with the same format, but drawing from
different data. So I have a template sheet that I duplicate and point to new
data. Many of the formulas rely on named ranges. In 2004 I could duplicate the
template sheet within the workbook and the duplicate sheet would have the same
named ranges.

In 2008, however, some of the names are missing on the duplicated sheet. Has
something changed about the scope of names so that they're more global? Is
there such a thing as a "local" name (unique within a sheet) and a "global"
name (unique within a workbook)?

Thanks,
Sean

Sort of, but not quite. There certainly are names that local to a sheet.
These names are preceded with the sheet name and look like: sheet1!Aname. In
the define names dialog, they will have the sheet name to the right in the
dialog. Global names, available to all sheets in the workbook do not have
the sheet name on the right side of the dialog box. However, to my
knowledge, nothing changed here with Excel 2008. It has always worked this
way.

However, some names that may have been OK in earlier versions of Excel, like
AXY23 may now be invalid as they are ambiguous in the large grid.

 

[sflaherty]

Bob,

Thanks for the guick response. I never noticed this difference and now I was able to fix the spreadsheet to work the same. By making all the names local, the system use is successful.

Just to note, something has definitely changed in this area because the operation between 2004 and 2008 is different...but I'm not sure I'll take the time to narrow it down further. After several months and a pro support incident, my last VBA has been converted to AppleScript. Now I can get back to work!

Regards,
Sean