Formula shows in cell instead of results (text reference)

D

Dave

I have a file with 1,000's of forumlas in it. One tab alone has over 3,400
formulas.

There are 20 tabs that pull a job category name from the "rates" tab. For
year 1, the formulas start in A9 and go to A63. I have multiple years that
deal with the same job categories and the information for Years 2 - 5 starts
on row 106 and continue down. If I put a formula in A106 that says + or =
A9, the cell displays the forumla and not the job category name. Cell A106
is formatted as text which it should be. I have tried the edit format and
change A106 to text then hit F2 then Enter. This does not fix the problem.

I am using Excel 2003. What is causing the problem?

Any help is appreciated. This has been a problem that has been going on for
years but no one has ever taken them time to attempt to diagnose.

Thanks
 
P

Paul

When you format a cell as Text, anything you put into that cell will b
stored literally as text, not as a formula. You need to format th
cell(s) back to General (or Date, or Number, etc.). Even after yo
re-format the cells they may not automatically update to the formul
results, in which case you need to "help" them convert to the ne
format.

Easiest way with 3400+ formula cells would be to select them and do
Find/Replace.

Find what: =
Replace with: =
Do a 'Replace All' and you should be set.



I have a file with 1,000's of forumlas in it. One tab alone has ove
3,400
 
R

RagDyer

<<<"Cell A106 is formatted as text which it should be.>>>"

Since A106 contains the formula:
=A9
it *SHOULD NOT* be formatted as text.

Format A106 to either General or Number and your problem should be solved.
 
T

tompl

Entering a formula in a cell that is formated text gives you test, not a
formula. Try formating A106 as general then reenter the formula and see if
that works.

Tom
 
D

Dave

tompl, Paul, and Ragdyer, thanks for the help. Your input fixed a years old
problem.
 

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