cell won't accept formula

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darynmurphy@yahoo.com - 10 Jul 2007 16:07 GMT

I have spreadsheet that contains a few cells that won't accept
formulas. Numbers and text can be hard-keyed, but that's it. I've
tried to change the format from number to accounting, to general,
etc., no luck. Any thoughts?

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Bill Ridgeway - 10 Jul 2007 16:27 GMT

Is the cell formatted as 'Text'?

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

>I have spreadsheet that contains a few cells that won't accept
> formulas. Numbers and text can be hard-keyed, but that's it. I've
> tried to change the format from number to accounting, to general,
> etc., no luck. Any thoughts?

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darynmurphy@yahoo.com - 10 Jul 2007 16:36 GMT

> Is the cell formatted as 'Text'?
>
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
> - Show quoted text -

Unfortunately no.

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Niek Otten - 10 Jul 2007 17:01 GMT

So what happens if you enter a formula? What formula?

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Kind regards,

Niek Otten
Microsoft MVP - Excel

|I have spreadsheet that contains a few cells that won't accept
| formulas. Numbers and text can be hard-keyed, but that's it. I've
| tried to change the format from number to accounting, to general,
| etc., no luck. Any thoughts?

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Dave Peterson - 10 Jul 2007 17:02 GMT

What do you see when you type in a formula?

If you see that formula string in the cell, maybe you're looking at formulas:
Tools|options|View tab|uncheck formulas

If the formula evaluates to what it should be, but the formula disappears, maybe
there's a macro at work.

Try closing that workbook and then reopen it with macros disabled. Then do some
testing.

> I have spreadsheet that contains a few cells that won't accept
> formulas. Numbers and text can be hard-keyed, but that's it. I've
> tried to change the format from number to accounting, to general,
> etc., no luck. Any thoughts?

Signature

Dave Peterson

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darynmurphy@yahoo.com - 10 Jul 2007 17:17 GMT

> What do you see when you type in a formula?
>
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
>
> Dave Peterson

somehow it works now. When I had the problem, all that would appear
is a dash - . I would try to add up a series of numbers in a row with
a simple "sum" formula and all I would get is a dash. I didn't change
anything to make it work, so I'm really perplexed.

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Dave Peterson - 10 Jul 2007 19:26 GMT

If it comes back, you may want to look at the number formatting, too.

Or even format|Conditional formatting (but that won't explain the hyphen).

> > What do you see when you type in a formula?
> >
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
> a simple "sum" formula and all I would get is a dash. I didn't change
> anything to make it work, so I'm really perplexed.

Signature

Dave Peterson

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Mark Lincoln - 12 Jul 2007 17:25 GMT

The Accounting number format displays a hyphen for zero values. If
the cell is formatted as Accounting you may have had a result of zero.

Mark Lincoln

On Jul 10, 12:17 pm, darynmur...@yahoo.com wrote:

> > What do you see when you type in a formula?
>
[quoted text clipped - 24 lines]
>
> - Show quoted text -

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