title: Is it possible to use VLOOKUP to return a formula?
body: <p>I have a table in an excel 2010 workbook (result_master.xls). Column A has Name, Column B has a Formula see example below</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/XXEa1.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/XXEa1.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
  
  <p>In another workbook(user_result_sheet.xls) I have a table where I want to use a VLOOKUP to return the appropriate formula in cell $B$2 from the table array in the other workbook based on lookup value from cell $A$1</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/PfBdI.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/PfBdI.png" alt="Result sheet image"></a></p>
  
  <p>The formulas in result_master.xls will change over time, so I wanted to be able to update them in one place rather than update the formulas in each of the 60+ user_results_sheet workbooks that will be distributed all over the company network.</p>
  
  <p>my 1st attempt </p>
  
  <pre><code>=VLOOKUP($A$1,[result_master.xlsx]Sheet1!$A$1:$B$4,2,FALSE)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>returned 0(zero), as it applies the formula to the (results_master) workbook</p>
  
  <p>I need it to apply the formula to the (user_result_sheet) workbook</p>
  
  <p>I tried using different combinations of LEFT,MID, and TRIM to remove the reference to the workbook/sheetname but even when that returned the correct part of the formula, it was as a string and then wouldn't calculate.</p>