Cells showing #####

[Chris_In_Raleigh]

Is there a way to have excel let me know if any cells are displaying the
##### symbol. I have double clicked on the columns to auto adjust the width
but there are still some cells that will show the ####.

My real reason for this is I don't want a 10+ page table to print and some
cells print ##### as the value. It is hard to check all cells in large
tables visually.

I run into this problem when I use conditional formatting.

Thanks

 

[Gary''s Student]

Try this small macro. It will also tell you the address of the first cell
that has been "pounded":

Sub PoundTest()
Dim r As Range, v1 As String, v2 As String
For Each r In ActiveSheet.UsedRange
v1 = r.Text
If Len(v1) <> 0 Then
v2 = Replace(v1, "#", "")
If Len(v2) = 0 Then
MsgBox "pounds found " & r.Address
Exit Sub
End If
End If
Next

End Sub


Macros are very easy to install and use:

1. ALT-F11 brings up the VBE window
2. ALT-I
ALT-M opens a fresh module
3. paste the stuff in and close the VBE window

If you save the workbook, the macro will be saved with it.

To use the macro from the normal Excel window:

1. ALT-F8
2. Select the macro
3. Touch Run



To remove the macro:

1. bring up the VBE window as above
2. clear the code out
3. close the VBE window

To learn more about macros in general, see:

http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/getstarted.htm

 

[Dave Peterson]

You can search (using ctrl-f) for # (look in values, not formulas).

Saved from a previous post.

It could mean a few things.

1. The columnwidth is too narrow to show the number.

Widen the column or change the font size of that cell. Or change the
numberformat to General.

2. You have a date/time in that cell and it's negative

Don't use negative dates. If excel was helping you, it may have
changed the format to a date. Change it back to General (or some
other number format).

If you need to see negative date/times:
Tools|options|Calculation Tab|and check 1904 date system
(but this can cause trouble--watch what happens to your dates
and watch what happens when you copy|paste dates to a different
workbook that doesn't use this setting)

3. You have a lot of text in the cell, the cell is formatted as Text.

Format the cell as general.

4. You really have ###'s in that cell.

Clean up that cell.

5. You have # in a cell, but it's format is set to Fill.

Change the format
(format|cells|alignment tab|horizontal box, change it to General.