Formatting problem

H

Henry

I have an XL2000 spreadsheet.
All the entries are in black font.
One cell is showing in red font
I've changed the cell formatting to black font but it still shows in red.
I've copied over it a similar cell with black font but it still shows red
font.
It's not important what colour it shows, but it's puzzling me how to change
it back to black.

The only thing I've yet to try is to delete the cell, shift left and
re-enter the data.

Any one got any thoughts on this?

Henry
 
C

CLR

Click on an empty unused cell..........
Then click on the Formatting paintbrush up in the tool bar.........
Then click on the errant Red-font cell..........

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3
 
H

Henry

Bill K,

Thanks for your rapid reply.
The spreadsheet is at work and I'm at home (It's 10:30 PM here)
I'll try with that tomorrow.

Henry
 
D

David McRitchie

Well pasting the formatting would have wiped out Conditional Formatting
if the cell you pasted from did not have C.F.

Could it be that the value actually is negative.

I never use Format, style but possibly that could be in use.
 
C

CLR

I don't understand Henry..........I just tested it again here on my XL2k and
it changed both a standard colored font cell and a Conditional Formatted
cell............what version of Excel are you using? Maybe you have a nasty
macro at work behind the scenes? If you still have the trouble tomorrow,
how about stripping confidential info out and sending me a copy with the bad
cell in it to my home addy?

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3
 
H

Henry

David,

The value in the cell is "SYS", so not negative.
The cell formatting is General.
There is no formula involved.
There is no C.F. in the sheet AFAIK, all the rest of the cells in the sheet
(200 rows by 6 columns) have black font.
There are no macros on this sheet, although there are a couple of simple
macros on another sheet in the same WB. These macros only do sorting of rows
on the other sheet and have no formatting function.
The cell doesn't have a range name.
The sheet isn't locked or protected in any way.

It's not important to have it in black, but the inability to change it has
me puzzled.

Tomorrow, I'll try deleting the cell and shift cells left (It's the last
used cell in the row) and retyping "SYS" to see what happens. If it's still
red, that'll be really puzzling!

Henry

David McRitchie said:
Well pasting the formatting would have wiped out Conditional Formatting
if the cell you pasted from did not have C.F.

Could it be that the value actually is negative.

I never use Format, style but possibly that could be in use.
---
HTH,
David McRitchie, Microsoft MVP - Excel [site changed Nov. 2001]
My Excel Pages: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
Search Page: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/search.htm

Henry said:
Chuck,

Tried that. Doesn't work!
Still red font.

Thanks anyway,

Henry
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
H

Henry

Chuck,

Thanks for the offer, but 90% of the data is confidential (Social Security
records).
By the time I've stripped all the confidential data out there won't be much
left.
We use XP2K at work and this WB is shared over a network.
I haven't checked with any of my colleagues to see if it is red on their
machines.

Unlikely to be a virus as all our machines are regularly checked for viruses
(Virii?) and there are only two macros which only do sorting on another
sheet.
I haven't checked with my colleagues to see if it is red on their machines.

You've given me an idea though. If I strip it and send it to myself at home,
I can look at it in XL XP.
As I explained to David, It's not important, just puzzling.


Henry
 
C

CLR

And intriguing.........I tried both the "negative" formatting and the
"Style" formatting and the "Format Painting" changed them both back to
normal as it did the regular and CF formatting.........have you looked in
the Worksheet and/or Workbook modules for a possible "Change-event"
macro?.........does the value "SYS" turn red in any other
cell?............does the font stay red in that cell if you change the "SYS"
value to something else?.........maybe try rightclicking on the sheet tab
and making a copy of the sheet and seeing if the same cell in THAT sheet
does the same thing..........maybe open the book WITHOUT macros
enabled.............just ideas...........and for goodness sakes, if you DO
find out what's up, please let us know!

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3
 
H

Henry

Chuck,

CLR said:
And intriguing.........I tried both the "negative" formatting and the
"Style" formatting and the "Format Painting" changed them both back to
normal as it did the regular and CF formatting.........have you looked in
the Worksheet and/or Workbook modules for a possible "Change-event"
macro?
Click to expand...

There are only 2 macros, linked to buttons on another sheet, which do sorts
on different columns in that other sheet.

..........does the value "SYS" turn red in any other
cell?........
Click to expand...

No, only if you change it to red.

.....does the font stay red in that cell if you change the "SYS"
value to something else?....
Click to expand...

Yes

......maybe try rightclicking on the sheet tab
and making a copy of the sheet and seeing if the same cell in THAT sheet
does the same thing.....
Click to expand...

I got rid of it by copying the whole range and pasting into another sheet.
Everything was black in the new sheet.

......maybe open the book WITHOUT macros
enabled......
Click to expand...

Tried that, still red.

........just ideas...........and for goodness sakes, if you DO
find out what's up, please let us know!

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3
Click to expand...
<SNIP>

Thanks for your help.
Still don't know what happened/ caused it.

Henry
 
C

CLR

Well, thanks for the feedback Henry..........I guess the important thing is
that you were able to get rid of it and go on with your work. Too bad we
really don't know what caused it tho............sure is a "puzzler"

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3
 
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