Excel column widths

R

Rachael

I created an excel sheet to track information. It's rather large. The sheet
is being sent once a week to a client, and when they get it, the columns
resize and some of the dates turn into #####. Why is that? What can I do to
stop it? The data is fine on my computer, why is it showing larger on other
people's systems?

I have all the columns "autofit" so that I can fit more data into a page, so
it's a tight fit. Will I just have to enlarge the columns?
 
B

bj

one thing that sometimes happens is that they don't have the same sets of
fonts on their machines. Check that you have a common font set.
 
R

Rachael

Well, it's done in the standard Arial font that excel opens with, so it
should be the same.

Does it matter that it was created in excel 97?
 
B

bj

I do not know if 97 has anything to do with it.
I would try one of two things.
Change the font (I have had Fonts that were supposed to be identical which
weren't)
put a header in that is wider than the date
I
 
D

Dave Peterson

I bet you and the recipient have different windows settings for the short date
format.

My bet is you use something like:
mm/dd/yy
and the recipient uses
mm/dd/yyyy

When you do Format|cells|Number tab and look at that cell's format, I'm betting
you see something like:

*03/14/2001

That asterisk means that you chose a short date format that is picked up from
the Windows Regional settings (Date tab).

xl2002+ is more honest with the way it deals with dates.

At the bottom of that dialog (xl2002+):

Date formats display date and time serial numbers as date values. Except for
items that have an asterisk (*), applied formats do not switch date orders with
the operating system.

Since yours is marked with an asterisk, your date will switch formats with the
setting in the OS.

==========
So you have a couple of choices--use a different format that isn't picked up
from the windows regional settings, widen the column, change the font size (or
change format|cells|alignment tab|check shrink to fit), or change your short
date format to be the longest it can be (I like mm/dd/yyyy).
 
R

Rachael

I checked and there is no * in front of my data, and it's the same
(dd/mm/yyyy) on all the computers I have tried. And all computers are opening
it as Ariel size 10, yet on my computer it's fine, but on others, I get #####
 
D

Dave Peterson

The asterisk doesn't appear in the cell. It's in the Format|Cells dialog.

If you widen the column, do you see the date?

If yes, do you see the date with a 4 digit year?

And do your co-workers see that same date with a 2 digit year?

If all three of those are true, then it's the window setting for your short date
that's different from your co-worker's setting.
 
Top