Excel RTD: running multiple instances, how to include formulas from the other workbook instance

Question

We have a user who is running 2 separate workbooks which need to share data:

• Pricing workbook which has RTD to receive updated market data
• Order Placement workbook which uses RTD to place orders and receive status updates

Because of limitations in the RTD threading model, the user needs to run each workbook in a separate Excel instance. (See Excel RTD - stops updating when user is typing into another Worksheet). The separate instances are started using excel.exe /x.

The user also wants to incorporate calculations from the Pricing Workbook into the Order Placement workbook. When Excel is not running as separate instances, he can enter a simple formula into the Order Placement workbook by pressing "=" and then clicking on a cell in the Pricing workbook. The cell then gets updated with something like [Pricing.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$1.

When Excel is running as separate instances, however, this doesn't work.

Is there another way to get the dynamically updating cell values from one workbook to the other?

Answer 1

Simple workaround: Let the end user manually make the link by typing the reference.

you can make a reference generator to ease them into it. All they have to do is copy the result value, enter "=" and paste the result value:

="["&B3&"]"&C3&"!"&D3