Microsoft KB Archive/109576

= Can't Link Chart Title to Names Containing Text =

Article ID: 109576

Article Last Modified on 8/15/2005

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 95 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Excel 5.0c

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This article was previously published under Q109576





SYMPTOMS
In Microsoft Excel, if you link a chart title to a defined name containing text, you receive the following error message:

External reference is not valid.



WORKAROUND
To link a chart title to a defined name containing text on a workbook, do the following:  Define a name on a workbook with the following steps:

 In a worksheet, from the Insert menu, choose Name, and then choose Define. In the Names in Workbook box, type the name you want to define. Click in the Refers To box, and then select a cell on the worksheet below the Define Name dialog box. Choose OK.  Select the chart.</li> If your chart already has a title, skip to step 4. If it does not, choose Titles from the Insert menu. Under Attach Text To, select the desired title check box, and choose OK.</li> Select the title you want to link to the defined name, and click in the formula bar.</li> Type the workbook name followed by the defined name. For example

=BOOK1.XLS!Sales

where Sales is the name you defined in Step 1. Press ENTER.</li> Select a sheet in the workbook, and from the Insert menu, choose Name, and then choose Define. Select the name you defined in Step 1, and in the Refers To box, type the actual text you want the name to refer to. For example, type

=$A$5&" Sales Figures"

and choose OK.</li></ol>

The chart title you linked to the defined name is updated to reflect the added text.

The chart title linked to a defined name is updated to include text contained in the defined name, however you cannot link a chart title to a defined name that contains text.

NOTE: You can use these same steps to link a chart title in a chart sheet to a defined name containing text as well.

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