Microsoft KB Archive/45074

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{| 2.X 3.00 4.00 4.00a 5.00 | 2.20 2.21 3.00 WINDOWS                 | OS/2 kbusage The information in this article applies to:
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 * Microsoft Excel for Windows, version 2.x, 3.0, 4.0, 4.0a, 5.0
 * Microsoft Excel for OS/2 versions 2.2, 2.21, 3.0

SUMMARY
When using a remote DDE reference with Excel, the basic rules for formula construction still apply in creating the reference. If reserved operators are used in the reference, Excel will misinterpret it.

To correct this problem, single quotation marks (') should be placed around the item in this place. This ensures that Excel's formula rules do not interfere. The syntax for a remote reference, then, should look as follows:

='APPLICATION'|'TOPIC'!'ITEM'

MORE INFORMATION
For example, if the remote reference was in the following form

=APPLICATION|TOPIC!ITEM and \\BV\CONFIG.SYS is used for ITEM, it will work correctly. However, if C:\CONFIG.SYS is used for ITEM, Excel inserts single quotation marks around the C and sends only the C because the colon is a reserved operator. This is also true of the minus sign (-).
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Last reviewed: November 4, 1994

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