Corrupt Cells?

P

PatG

I receive a monthly spreadsheet from another department that I re-sort by
product numbers using a custom sort list.
Recently one of the product numbers was not being recognized so it would be
pushed to the end of the list every time. It also was not recognized when
running a macro.
I found that by "clearing" the cell and re-typing the product number fresh,
it will get picked up and appear at the correct place on the list after
sorting.
(NOT deleting, or cut/pasting or copy/pasting or paste-special value only -
none of which work)
Any idea what causes this?
Using Excel 2003
 
J

Jim Thomlinson

Are the product numbers actually numbers or are they text. If they are text
perhaps the number is padded at the end with blanks?
 
T

Tyro

You might have non-printable characters in the cell. If the cell A1 appears
as being ABCD then =LEN(A1) should say 4. If there are hidden characters in
the cell, the answer will reflect them. Perhaps the other dept. entered the
part number as ABCD with hidden characters and is now sending those to you.
A fast way to see if there are non-printables is just to select the cell,
press F2 and watch the cursor as you step across the cell with the left
arrow key. There should be a visible character to the left of the cursor for
each character except the first..

Tyro
 
A

Alan

Are the product numbers actually numbers or are they text. If they are text
perhaps the number is padded at the end with blanks?
--
HTH...

Jim Thomlinson





- Show quoted text -
Click to expand...

Maybe you can try a popular Excel file recovery tool called Advanced
Excel Repair to repair your Excel file. It is a powerful tool to
repair corrupt or damaged Excel files.

Detailed information about Advanced Excel Repair can be found at
http://www.datanumen.com/aer/

And you can also download a free demo version at http://www.datanumen.com/aer/aer.exe

Alan
 
D

Dave Peterson

Do you really believe that the problem could be caused by a corrupt workbook?

Don't you think that Alan's suggestion is much more likely?

Or is this just a not so veiled advertisement?
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads

Possible corrupt cells? 3
Error with copying values in cells 2
Sorting data with the letter 'E' included 3
Custom sorting 1
Cell format problem 2
Unwanted Number Sorting Order 2
Find cell containing a letter 5
Sort a large file then sum like values... 2

Top