Hidden characters in formula bar in Excel 2007

[Makua]

Ok, I feel like an idiot. I did something so that my formula bar only shows
the last two characters of what ever is in my cell. I can still see all the
data in the cell but it is not being displayed in the formula bar (except for
the last two characters).

This is now on all my Excel files and if I send them to another computer,
they look fine. It must be something specific to how the Excel on my system
is set up.

Any one with an idea?

Thanks.

 

[Dave Peterson]

xl2007 enhanced the formula bar so that you can expand and contract it. You can
use the scroll bar to the far right to scroll up/down. Or use the icon to the
right of the up/down arrows to see all(?) the formula.

 

[Makua]

Thanks for the note. I was able to scroll and that is not solving the issue.
Again it is something that I have never seen before. Here is a bit more
description and an example.

Let's say that my cell A1 had a word in it [Schoolbus]. The formula bar
would show blank characters for everything but the us. It would look like
fx| us. The same happens with numbers and formulas. If I had 10,000 is
a cell, it would look like fx| 00.

 

[Dave Peterson]

I've never seen this.

And you have closed excel and reopened it, right?

(I don't have a guess.)

Thanks for the note. I was able to scroll and that is not solving the issue.
Again it is something that I have never seen before. Here is a bit more
description and an example.

Let's say that my cell A1 had a word in it [Schoolbus]. The formula bar
would show blank characters for everything but the us. It would look like
fx| us. The same happens with numbers and formulas. If I had 10,000 is
a cell, it would look like fx| 00.

xl2007 enhanced the formula bar so that you can expand and contract it. You can
use the scroll bar to the far right to scroll up/down. Or use the icon to the
right of the up/down arrows to see all(?) the formula.

 

[Makua]

Yeah I have closed and reponed. I have shut down and restarted. Very weird.

I've never seen this.

And you have closed excel and reopened it, right?

(I don't have a guess.)

Thanks for the note. I was able to scroll and that is not solving the issue.
Again it is something that I have never seen before. Here is a bit more
description and an example.

Let's say that my cell A1 had a word in it [Schoolbus]. The formula bar
would show blank characters for everything but the us. It would look like
fx| us. The same happens with numbers and formulas. If I had 10,000 is
a cell, it would look like fx| 00.

xl2007 enhanced the formula bar so that you can expand and contract it. You can
use the scroll bar to the far right to scroll up/down. Or use the icon to the
right of the up/down arrows to see all(?) the formula.

Makua wrote:

Ok, I feel like an idiot. I did something so that my formula bar only shows
the last two characters of what ever is in my cell. I can still see all the
data in the cell but it is not being displayed in the formula bar (except for
the last two characters).

This is now on all my Excel files and if I send them to another computer,
they look fine. It must be something specific to how the Excel on my system
is set up.

Any one with an idea?

Thanks.

 

[ShaneDevenshire]

Hi,

I've tested everything I can think of and can't duplicat the problem.

Have you tried opening the files on another machine to see if they display
correctly?

--
Thanks,
Shane Devenshire

Yeah I have closed and reponed. I have shut down and restarted. Very weird.

I've never seen this.

And you have closed excel and reopened it, right?

(I don't have a guess.)

Thanks for the note. I was able to scroll and that is not solving the issue.
Again it is something that I have never seen before. Here is a bit more
description and an example.

Let's say that my cell A1 had a word in it [Schoolbus]. The formula bar
would show blank characters for everything but the us. It would look like
fx| us. The same happens with numbers and formulas. If I had 10,000 is
a cell, it would look like fx| 00.

:

xl2007 enhanced the formula bar so that you can expand and contract it. You can
use the scroll bar to the far right to scroll up/down. Or use the icon to the
right of the up/down arrows to see all(?) the formula.

Makua wrote:

Ok, I feel like an idiot. I did something so that my formula bar only shows
the last two characters of what ever is in my cell. I can still see all the
data in the cell but it is not being displayed in the formula bar (except for
the last two characters).

This is now on all my Excel files and if I send them to another computer,
they look fine. It must be something specific to how the Excel on my system
is set up.

Any one with an idea?

Thanks.

 

[Makua]

Hi,

Yeah I sent the files to another machine and they work fine. It is
something that I did to this specific machine's version of Excel. I guess
I'm going to have to reload it and see if that fixes the problem.

Thanks for the help.

Hi,

I've tested everything I can think of and can't duplicat the problem.

Have you tried opening the files on another machine to see if they display
correctly?

--
Thanks,
Shane Devenshire

Yeah I have closed and reponed. I have shut down and restarted. Very weird.

I've never seen this.

And you have closed excel and reopened it, right?

(I don't have a guess.)

Makua wrote:

Thanks for the note. I was able to scroll and that is not solving the issue.
Again it is something that I have never seen before. Here is a bit more
description and an example.

Let's say that my cell A1 had a word in it [Schoolbus]. The formula bar
would show blank characters for everything but the us. It would look like
fx| us. The same happens with numbers and formulas. If I had 10,000 is
a cell, it would look like fx| 00.

:

xl2007 enhanced the formula bar so that you can expand and contract it. You can
use the scroll bar to the far right to scroll up/down. Or use the icon to the
right of the up/down arrows to see all(?) the formula.

Makua wrote:

Ok, I feel like an idiot. I did something so that my formula bar only shows
the last two characters of what ever is in my cell. I can still see all the
data in the cell but it is not being displayed in the formula bar (except for
the last two characters).

This is now on all my Excel files and if I send them to another computer,
they look fine. It must be something specific to how the Excel on my system
is set up.

Any one with an idea?

Thanks.

 

[WindsurferLA]

Its a few years later, but I'm experiencing the same mysterious problem with Excell97. The formula bar only shows the last two letters. The workbook does all the math correctly.
This subject is also posted (by another user) at http://www.excelbanter.com/showthread.php?t=209900

Update ... I don't know if this was previously the case, but now I note that if I click on the formula bar after clicking on the cell, it shows the entire contents of the cell.

I reloaded Excel and Windows (a very long process) from Ghost backup and problem remained; then ot mysteriously went away. Then it came back. It may have come and gone once more. When present, it impacts all spread sheets that I've tried. It seems to be machine specific.

I'm running WinXP pro with SR3 on 3 Ghz machine with 2 GByte RAM. It may have something to do with the Windows Update that was installed automatically this morning. I'm running spread sheets with lots of macros, so it is conceivable that I'm executing a command that is not accessible from the key board. IDEAS WILL BE WELCOMED.


U P D A T E ......... SEE BIG SMILE ON FACE !!!!! PROBLEM MAY BE SOLVED At least I can reproduce it.
THANKS TO these guys. for hint ..... http://www.officekb.com/Uwe/Forum.aspx/ms-excel/159713/Formula-Bar-contents-missing
The problem is related to the use of two monitors. When I view spread sheet on prime monitor, all seems well. When viewed on alternative monitor, there is problem. One monitor is driven digitally the other analog. I'm not sure which is which, because I can't see the cables, and I'm not certain if it is a digital versus analog issue.

 

[sotaforlife]

Thank you so much for your updates!
The Dual Monitor issue was true for me as well.

I had a problem being able to see the formula that was present in the cell but not viewable even though the formula bar was not hidden. I could click in the cell and see that the formula was working and once I would click into the area of the formula bar cell contents, I would be able to see the formula, but if I was navigating below in the sheet and trying to see the formulas for the respective cells, the formula bar was not displaying it until I clicked above into the formula bar cell contents part.

I too thought that I had unintentially changed the cell background or cell color within the formula bar, but it turns out all I have to do is minimize my excel sheet from my dual monitor and move it to my primary monitor and I can see my formula again without having to click into the formula bar cell contents to see it!

I had restarted and tried many things until I found your post.
Thank you for taking the time to post your solution here!
cheers,
erik

 

[tanne]

Wow! Thanks a bunch! I was getting pretty frustrated. Using Windows8 and Excel 2010. Moving my Excel file to my primary monitor solved the problem. Thank you very much!