embarrassing problem

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rick B
  • Start date Start date
R

Rick B

This is one of those stupid little things I feel embarrassed to ask about. I
am trying to link a cell from one worksheet to another cell in a different
worksheet within the same workbook. (ex. the formula in Sheet2!A1 is
=Sheet1!A1). Something I have done a million times. For some reason, instead
if showing the value of the linked cell, what appears in the cell is the
formula itself. It's like there was an apostrophe ( ' ) at the start of the
formula to make it text but there isn't.

What the heck is going on and why does the formula appear instead of the
data?

-rick
 
Hi

Maybe the cell was formatted as text before you typed the formula in. Format
it as General and try recreating the formula.
 
Try pressing the key below "ESC"/left of "1" while holding down CTRL
(show/hide formulas).

Rgds,
Andy
 
If A1 cell on Sheet2 was formatted as text, it could be that excel is "helping"
you.

If you put a date in A1 and then put =a1 in b1, you'll see that excel Helped by
formatting b1 as a date.

The same thing can happen with cells formatted as text.

If you format A1 as text, then put =A1 in B1, everything looks fine. But if you
go back to edit B1 one more time, you'll see that it gets formatted as text.

The easiest thing to do is to reformat the cell as General/number (anything but
Text!) and then hit F2 followed by enter (reentering the formula).

But remember this. There's no way to turn off this "helpful" feature!
 
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