Excel SUM (across mutiple worksheets) Function Returns #REF When Using Indirect

Question

I am currently working on an Excel 2010 workbook with a worksheet for each region I do business in containing the estimated man hours for the next X weeks, with a final worksheet adding the sum of each week for each region.

I have completed the majority of the workbook with just one formula holding me back:

=SUM(San_Diego!F32+Inland_Empire!F19+Los_Angeles!F26+Over_The_Horizon!F18)

The above formula returns the correct SUM perfectly but automatically corrects itself when someone adds a new column into one of the worksheets. I have attempted a few other options that have been recommended over the past week I have been working on this workbook:

=SUM(San_Diego!$F$32+Inland_Empire!$F$19+Los_Angeles!$F$26+Over_The_Horizon!$F$18)

The $ does not work at all and still auto corrects.

I've also tried adding INDIRECT but that doesn't work either and gives a #REF error

=SUM(INDIRECT("San_Diego!E32"&"Inland_Empire!E19"&"Los_Angeles!E26"&"Over_The_Horizon!E18"))

The cells being referenced do have the following simple SUM formula or an equivalent in them:

=SUM(E3:E17)

I'm hoping (and quite sure) that I have just totally missed a concept and it is a simple error I am making over and over.

Answer 1

Have you tried:

=SUM(INDIRECT("San_Diego!E32")+INDIRECT("Inland_Empire!E19")+INDIRECT("Los_Angeles!E26")+INDIRECT("Over_The_Horizon!E18"))

or maybe with Fs rather than Es?