Excel 2007: @*. formatting

[pmetnc]

Is there any way to make this format work with Wrap Text turned on? Whenever
the text is wide enough to need to be wrapped, I always get
#######################.

 

[EricG]

Try changing the format of the cell from Text to General.

Eric

 

[Dave Peterson]

I think you're out of luck. I couldn't do it (well, in xl2003).

If that string is between 255 and 1024 characters, then I get the ### symbols.

It's not really the line wrapping that's causing the trouble.

 

[Dave Peterson]

ps. Have you thought of using a table in MSWord?

They have this kind of leader for tabs (I think) and I think that you could do
this kind of thing with trailers, too. (But I haven't used this feature in a
long time.)

 

[pmetnc]

How does that help when trying to use a custom format?

 

[pmetnc]

Where does one go to report a bug in Excel?

ps. It has to be done in Excel.

I think you're out of luck. I couldn't do it (well, in xl2003).

If that string is between 255 and 1024 characters, then I get the ### symbols.

 

[Dave Peterson]

I'm sure that there's a link on the microsoft.com somewhere.

But MS has known about the length of the string and the cell formatted as text
causing the ###'s to appear since xl97.

 

[pmetnc]

I'm sure that there's a link on the microsoft.com somewhere.

But MS has known about the length of the string and the cell formatted as text
causing the ###'s to appear since xl97.

The strings I'm working with are far less than 255 characters. Are you
saying it only happens to you with strings over 255 characters?

 

[Dave Peterson]

I'm saying that if you format a cell as text and have a string that's between
255 and 1024 characters long, you'll see ####'s.

How long is the text in that cell? In fact, what's the string in the cell that
causes the problem?

How wide is the column? Where do the line breaks occur? Are they natural line
breaks or did you use alt-enters to force new lines?

 

[pmetnc]

It happens on a brand-new, blank worksheet, with the text abcdefghij.

Try this:
-open a blank sheet
-type in abcdefghij in A1 (or basically any text that's wider than the
current cell width)
-turn Wrap Text on
-format the cell with the @*. custom format
-see ########

 

[Dave Peterson]

I still don't know a way around it. But this happens when using other
numberformats, too.

I've used a custom format of:
mmmm dd, yyyy|dddd
(where | is the newline character--I use ctrl-j to enter it).

As soon as I shrink the columnwidth so that the text won't fit in the cell (when
measured if it were not wrapping), the cell displays ###'s.

I can fix the problem I see using this, but it doesn't look like it works for
your situation.

I can Format the cell
Rightclick|Format Cells|Alignment tab
Uncheck wrap text, check shrink to fit, and then recheck wrap text.
(and then adjust the rowheight manually)

When I tried the layout you want, the trailing dots were lost (shrink to fit
seems to cause the loss of the dots).

I don't have a suggestion for a workaround for you.

 

[Bruce Sinclair]

It happens on a brand-new, blank worksheet, with the text abcdefghij.

Try this:
-open a blank sheet
-type in abcdefghij in A1 (or basically any text that's wider than the
current cell width)
-turn Wrap Text on
-format the cell with the @*. custom format
-see ########

I'd suggest that xl can't wrap your text as there is no space in it to break
the text up. Basically, if one word is wider than your column, then you are
out of luck. The fix ? ... either set the column width a bit larger or
change your text.

HTH

 

[Dave Peterson]

Excel will still wrap text when there are no spaces in the string.

 

[pmetnc]

abcdef<space>ghij doesn't work either.

Try it for yourself. The steps are below.

 

[pmetnc]

I was afraid of that. I was hoping I had missed something.

I'd have to say it's a bug in Excel. I'll see if I can find somewhere to
report it and hope that it eventually gets fixed.

 

[Bruce Sinclair]

Excel will still wrap text when there are no spaces in the string.

... and I just found an example of this in one of my own sheets. Doh !
What was I thinking ... maybe readability ?

Thanks