Strange formula popping up

[lil'bit]

Hello. I have a problem in excel 2003. My SS has lots and lots o
figures on it. I used format with no $ , 2 decimals, and chose (1234
56). However every time I try to enter an amount in the minus in an
cell it comes out strange.

For instance say I want to enter (250.00).
It does this: - 250.F8 (or any other cell ). and then jumps to the cel
next to it and does the little flashing 'outline the cell' thingy.
tried deleting and clearing all the formulas and then reformatting bu
it keeps doing it. Amounts in the black come out just fine such a
1234.56. It only does it in a cell with minus.

What am I doing wrong? I don't want to lose all the data I hav
entered but ...

 

[Dave O]

There may be macros built into the spreadsheet that invoke when you
enter a negative number. Did you inherit this spreadsheet from someone?

 

[lil'bit]

In a way I did inherit it. The company has a template so I copied th
template and proceeded from there to insert data. But why won't th
strange formula disappear when I use the ' clear formula '? Also trie
re-entering the correct format and it doesn't go away

 

[Dave Peterson]

If you close excel then reopen it in safe mode, then open your file, does it
work ok?

close excel
windows start button|Run
excel /safe

File|Open your workbook

If it works ok, then you could have a worksheet event that runs automatically
when you make a change.

Rightclick on the worksheet tab and select view code.

If you see stuff there that looks Greek, it may be time to get the developer
involved.

 

[lil'bit]

Argh. Such frustration. I can't start excel in safe. When I click on run
and the box pops up, I enter: excel/safe Then click ok.

Another box pops up that says : Windows cannot find 'excel/safe'.

The company said I can play around with the template and get it right.
So isn't there just some way to undo the formatting on the template?
Everytime I try, it still does the same thing. I'm clearing and
deleting like crazy and no go.

 

[Guest]

you can also start in Safe mode by holding down the Ctrl key while click on
the Excel icon

 

[Guest]

try

Excel /s

 

[Dave Peterson]

Just to reiterate Duke's point...

There's a space character between excel and /safe

 

[lil'bit]

Ok, thank you everyone. I got in safe mode and clicked on view mode and
everything looks ok to me. Well thanks for trying. Think I'll just
make up my own ss next month and not use the template.