Excel sees cell formulas as constants, will not solve

[Guest]

I have a medium-sized excel 2003 project with several worksheets, some of
them containing data that is imported from several access 2003 querys. In
the beginning everything worked fine, but then I tried to change a cell
reference (from $B1 to $B2) and the worksheet stops automatically calculating
the formula. For example, the cell would read =$B2+$B3, instead of a
numerical value. If I use the "Evaluate Formulae" button on the formula
auditing toolbar it says that "the cell being evaluated contains a constant".
If I go to a new cell and type a simple formula, like =1+1, it has the exact
same problem- the cell reads =1+1, instead of 2. If I highlight the formula
and press F9 if solves correctly, but the formula is replaced by the
solution. If I take a broken cell and fill down with it, relative references
do not change. Existing cells in the same worksheet continue to display
correctly, but if I change them at all they too will become broken, and will
not go back to reading correctly even if I change it back to what it was
before. Cells in other worksheets operate without any problems. Any help on
this problem will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Niek Otten]

Your cell was formatted as text before you entered the formula. Formatting afterwards doesn't help.
Format as General (or Number) AND RE-ENTER the formula (F2, ENTER)

--
Kind regards,

Niek Otten
Microsoft MVP - Excel

|I have a medium-sized excel 2003 project with several worksheets, some of
| them containing data that is imported from several access 2003 querys. In
| the beginning everything worked fine, but then I tried to change a cell
| reference (from $B1 to $B2) and the worksheet stops automatically calculating
| the formula. For example, the cell would read =$B2+$B3, instead of a
| numerical value. If I use the "Evaluate Formulae" button on the formula
| auditing toolbar it says that "the cell being evaluated contains a constant".
| If I go to a new cell and type a simple formula, like =1+1, it has the exact
| same problem- the cell reads =1+1, instead of 2. If I highlight the formula
| and press F9 if solves correctly, but the formula is replaced by the
| solution. If I take a broken cell and fill down with it, relative references
| do not change. Existing cells in the same worksheet continue to display
| correctly, but if I change them at all they too will become broken, and will
| not go back to reading correctly even if I change it back to what it was
| before. Cells in other worksheets operate without any problems. Any help on
| this problem will be greatly appreciated.