Literal appears in cell

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bob
  • Start date Start date
B

Bob

I have an Excel spreadsheet and when I try to sum a column the literal
appears in the cell instead of the sum.

For example, if I have 1,2,3 in cells A1,A2,A3 and this formula:
=SUM(A1:A3) in cell A4, instead of 6 appearing in cell A4 the literal
"=SUM(A1:A3)" (without the quotes) appears. Any ideas what I am doing
wrong?


Bob
 
You could be looking at the formulas:

Tools|Options|view Tab
Uncheck formulas

That cell (or even the whole column) could be formatted as text
Format|cells|Number
and then hit F2 and hit enter to reapply the formula

And maybe, you have a leading space before the equal sign??
 
Dave:
Tools|Options|view Tab
Uncheck formulas
Click to expand...

Formulas is unchecked.
That cell (or even the whole column) could be formatted as text <
Click to expand...

I think you've discovered part of the problem. The cells were indeed
formatted as text. I changed the format to numbers for the entire column.

My next problem is that when I changed the format to number the numbers
therein continue for some reason to be left aligned in the cell. A
number should be right aligned by default.

I have changed the alignment of the column to right and as I go in cell
by cell and re-key the numbers, the SUM formula works correctly. Is
there an easier way than re-keying all the cells? The column contains
over 250 numbers. (The example in my first post was greatly simplified)

I appreciate your help.

Bob
 
Or the cell might be formatted as text. CVheck the number format. reformat as general, reenter formula.

Good Luck,
Mark Graesser

----- Bob wrote: -----

I have an Excel spreadsheet and when I try to sum a column the literal
appears in the cell instead of the sum.

For example, if I have 1,2,3 in cells A1,A2,A3 and this formula:
=SUM(A1:A3) in cell A4, instead of 6 appearing in cell A4 the literal
"=SUM(A1:A3)" (without the quotes) appears. Any ideas what I am doing
wrong?


Bob
 
copy an empty cell, select the range and do edit>paste special and select add <

That did it. Thanks...

Bob
 
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