Hi Keith,
I also had some difficulty with the formula referencing a cell on another table.
When I entered the formula, whether containing a single cell reference or references to one cell on each of the six spreadsheet frames, the result, as soon as I pressed enter was that the external frame reference was dropped from the formula and only the cell references remained.
I had reduced the size of the actual spreadsheets in the frames to 4 columns by 20 rows, and the result spreadsheet to a single cell (see below), so without the frame names, the formula now referred to a non-existent cell and gave an error message ( #NAME! ), which didn't make immediate sense.
I closed the document (without saving) and started this reply, then decided to try again.
This time I rebuilt the document from scratch, creating one spreadsheet frame, then duplicating it seven times. I put all seven tables onto a single page so that i could see them (and name them) without having to scroll through the pages. I used "one", "two", etc. for the frame names, and added them to the formula one at a time. All went well, as you can see below. The fnal formula is in the entry box at the top of the screen shot.
After seeing it work, I tried a couple of checks.
I renamed frame "one" as "one1", revised the formula to fit, and recalculated. No problem.
I renamed frame "one1" as "one", and recalculated. The formula was displayed as text.
I deleted the "1" in the formula and recalculated. No change—the formula was displayed as text.
I deleted the = sign from the formula, clicked the 'confirm' checkmark (text displayed), retyped the = sign at the beginning of the formula, and clicked the confirm checkmark again. All OK—the result was again displayed.
I opened the result frame and resized it to a single cell. When the cell was selected, the formula displayed as =BADCELL+BADCELL+BADCELL+BADCELL+BADCELL+BADCELL
Apparently the referring spreadsheet has to contain at least enough columns and rows to accomodate the address of the references cell(s).
I resized the result spreadsheet to the same number of rows and columns as the data spreadsheets. The formula was restored and the result displayed.
Hope that helps with your question.
Regarding the closing comment: "...cells A1 through T50 (this seems to be the maxiumum size of a spreadsheet frame, so all spreadsheet frames start life with this range of cells regardless of how many you choose to display)."
Actually, 20 columns by 50 rows is the default size on an inserted spreadsheet, not the maximum (nor the minimum).
To change the actual (as opposed to displayed) size of the spreadsheet, you first have to open the frame (Window menu > Open Frame)
With the open spreadsheet frame as the active window, you'll see the Spreadsheet menu set in the menu bar.
Go Format > Document... and reset the column and row numbers as desired. Click OK.
Close the window to return to the WP document with the inserted spreadsheet frame.
Regards,
Barry