Formula instead of Result?

[Guest]

Occasionally (and just occasionally) I'll be working on a spreadsheet, and
I'll modify a formula, then when I leave that cell the formula is in the
cell, not the result.

For example, on a spreadsheet i'm working on now I've got a row that looks
like

5
6
19
20
=LEFT(IN
4
29

Obviously theres more to the formula, but the next column is blocking it
from view.

I tried turning on formula auditing, so they all look like this, and when I
turn it off it looks exactly the same. Going into the formula and hitting
enter also does nothing, the only thing i've found that works is by going
into find and replace and finding = and replacing with =

Is there a more perminant solution?
Is there an option somewhere that I have on/off that is doing this that I
can toggle?

Any help would be appriciated

 

[Guest]

I suggest to check to things:
1. cell format (perhaps it's text)
2. Tools/Options/Display/Formulae (perhaps it is checked)

Regards,
Stefi

 

[Pete_UK]

The cell is probably formatted as Text. Select the cell and Format |
Cells | Number (tab) and click on General. You will also have to edit
the formula (double-click the cell then press <enter>) for the change
to take effect.

Hope this helps.

Pete

 

[Andrew Taylor]

Two possible readons I can think of:
- the cell is formatted as Text
- there's a space before the = sign

Interestingly, your workaround of Search & Replace of "=" fixes
the first of these (without changing the cell format)
but (as I would expect) not the second.


Andrew