I have an excel sheet with values in it (this sheet is generated by a custom perl script, but I don't think that's where the problem lies). In it, I have a formula:

=sum(indirect(concatenate(address(6,column()),":",address(17,column()))))

The purpose of this formula is to give me the SUM() of the cells in the current column, between rows 6 and 17. In Gnumeric Spreadsheet, as soon as I open the file, this works. But in Excel (both 2003 and 2007), opening the file gives #VALUE! errors in the fields with this formula, stating that the INDIRECT call with the values $B$6:$B$17 will result in an error.

Here's the kink in the issue. If I edit the field (via F2), and make no changes, and hit enter, the values update. Also, it seems, if I save the file as .xlsx (Excel 2007 format), the values update upon opening. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that creating an xlsx is a possibility with the modules that I'm using, and many of our clients probably wouldn't be able to use it anyway.

Any suggestions? Editing 200+ files every month for each client isn't going to be feasible, so if there's something I'm missing, please let me know.