I need the second part of my code to run once the first part has finished. What the code does is export a table to excel which automatically opens then using the send keys function it performs some complex calculations. the problem is that the send keys function often runs before the file has automatically opened. Any ideas how i can stop this happening

Maybe this article will help solve your problem....
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q141/5/37.asp?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0

HTH,
Jack

Can you tell Excel to do the calculations with a macro and avoid using sendkeys? I use this option all the time and have never had a problem.
The syntax is:
TheNameYouGaveExcelVariable.Run "ExcelMarcoName"