Hi Everyone,

I have recently added new excel files to a company's shared network which all have data connections with a 'master' excel workbook in a different file on the network.
The master file can only be opened and edited by certain users and the sub-files can only be opened by the persons data which is imported from the master file.

Due to the fact that we dont want the network users to edit the data coming from the master sheet, I have written a macro which unprotects the sheet, refreshes the data and then protects it again when the file is opened. I have have done this for all sub-files on the network.
This process works well unless the master file is open on another computer on the network. If this is the case whenever anyone tries to open their own excel file the error 'File already in use' displays and then it tries to open the master file, which I do not want it to do as the master file contains confidential info!

In short I am trying to see if there is a way I can refresh the data on an excel file if the data source (in this case another excel file) is open on a different computer. If it turns out that this is impossible I am welcome to suggestions which could make this work using a different method.

Any help on this issue would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks.