Thanks for testing, I think that approach would be OK for 95% of my scheduled triggers. (Each schedule only triggers one macro update, and so sharing violations from duplicated triggers would be a note of caution for me to fix that.)

It would also have the added bonus that an error in the external workbook macros won't stop everything else from downloading. The schedules run on Sunday, which means I should turn up for work on Monday with everything downloaded and just the macros in error to deal with -- currently I come in at 9am, fix an error, and then have to forego the machine and hammer the office network pipe for 4 hours while the rest of the scheduled downloads complete.

Looks like I will need to learn vb.net how exciting!