Formula stays displayed in cell

Hi, Amy. The cell is formatted as text. Try first formatting the cell as
general. If that doesn't work, select it, and hit Edit-->Clear-->All and
save the file, then re-enter your formula. Also, note that your formula is
much easier written as =A1+A2
*******************
~Anne Troy

www.OfficeArticles.com


"AMY Z." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi I'm fairly new with functions. I am working with Excel 2003
>
> I wrote a simple function =SUM(A1,A2)
> The cell the function is in is cell A3.
>
> What's weird is, the formula is always displayed in the A3 cell. Not in
the
> background.
> The spreadsheet was started by someone else. Would they have some kind of
> format that causes this? I've never had this problem before.
>
> Hope I explained this right.
> Thanks for your time
> Amy

Amy,

I'm unsure of what formatting problem is causing this but regardless of the
files size you can sidestep the problem. Select All, copy...file new
page...edit, paste special, whatever you need...formulas, values but NOT
FORMAT.

Hope that helps.

Just some added experience:

It may be easier written, but this is less robust. Simply hitting the
spacebar in A1 or A2 would cause it to display #Value. Sum is a bit more
robust.

=Sum(A1:A2)

since the cells are contiguous.

--
Regards,
Tom Ogilvy

"Anne Troy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:%[email protected]...
> Hi, Amy. The cell is formatted as text. Try first formatting the cell as
> general. If that doesn't work, select it, and hit Edit-->Clear-->All and
> save the file, then re-enter your formula. Also, note that your formula is
> much easier written as =A1+A2
> *******************
> ~Anne Troy
>
> www.OfficeArticles.com
>
>
> "AMY Z." <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Hi I'm fairly new with functions. I am working with Excel 2003
> >
> > I wrote a simple function =SUM(A1,A2)
> > The cell the function is in is cell A3.
> >
> > What's weird is, the formula is always displayed in the A3 cell. Not in
> the
> > background.
> > The spreadsheet was started by someone else. Would they have some kind
of
> > format that causes this? I've never had this problem before.
> >
> > Hope I explained this right.
> > Thanks for your time
> > Amy
>
>

The "Edit-Clear-All-save file" procedure fixed it!
Thank you all for the tips, and taking time to answer my dilemma.
Amy

"Anne Troy" wrote:

> Hi, Amy. The cell is formatted as text. Try first formatting the cell as
> general. If that doesn't work, select it, and hit Edit-->Clear-->All and
> save the file, then re-enter your formula. Also, note that your formula is
> much easier written as =A1+A2
> *******************
> ~Anne Troy
>
> www.OfficeArticles.com
>
>
> "AMY Z." <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Hi I'm fairly new with functions. I am working with Excel 2003
> >
> > I wrote a simple function =SUM(A1,A2)
> > The cell the function is in is cell A3.
> >
> > What's weird is, the formula is always displayed in the A3 cell. Not in
> the
> > background.
> > The spreadsheet was started by someone else. Would they have some kind of
> > format that causes this? I've never had this problem before.
> >
> > Hope I explained this right.
> > Thanks for your time
> > Amy
>
>
>

Hi, Amy. The cell is formatted as text. Try first formatting the cell as
general. If that doesn't work, select it, and hit Edit-->Clear-->All and
save the file, then re-enter your formula. Also, note that your formula is
much easier written as =A1+A2
*******************
~Anne Troy

www.OfficeArticles.com


"AMY Z." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi I'm fairly new with functions. I am working with Excel 2003
>
> I wrote a simple function =SUM(A1,A2)
> The cell the function is in is cell A3.
>
> What's weird is, the formula is always displayed in the A3 cell. Not in
the
> background.
> The spreadsheet was started by someone else. Would they have some kind of
> format that causes this? I've never had this problem before.
>
> Hope I explained this right.
> Thanks for your time
> Amy

Amy,

I'm unsure of what formatting problem is causing this but regardless of the
files size you can sidestep the problem. Select All, copy...file new
page...edit, paste special, whatever you need...formulas, values but NOT
FORMAT.

Hope that helps.

Just some added experience:

It may be easier written, but this is less robust. Simply hitting the
spacebar in A1 or A2 would cause it to display #Value. Sum is a bit more
robust.

=Sum(A1:A2)

since the cells are contiguous.

--
Regards,
Tom Ogilvy

"Anne Troy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:%[email protected]...
> Hi, Amy. The cell is formatted as text. Try first formatting the cell as
> general. If that doesn't work, select it, and hit Edit-->Clear-->All and
> save the file, then re-enter your formula. Also, note that your formula is
> much easier written as =A1+A2
> *******************
> ~Anne Troy
>
> www.OfficeArticles.com
>
>
> "AMY Z." <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Hi I'm fairly new with functions. I am working with Excel 2003
> >
> > I wrote a simple function =SUM(A1,A2)
> > The cell the function is in is cell A3.
> >
> > What's weird is, the formula is always displayed in the A3 cell. Not in
> the
> > background.
> > The spreadsheet was started by someone else. Would they have some kind
of
> > format that causes this? I've never had this problem before.
> >
> > Hope I explained this right.
> > Thanks for your time
> > Amy
>
>

The "Edit-Clear-All-save file" procedure fixed it!
Thank you all for the tips, and taking time to answer my dilemma.
Amy

"Anne Troy" wrote:

> Hi, Amy. The cell is formatted as text. Try first formatting the cell as
> general. If that doesn't work, select it, and hit Edit-->Clear-->All and
> save the file, then re-enter your formula. Also, note that your formula is
> much easier written as =A1+A2
> *******************
> ~Anne Troy
>
> www.OfficeArticles.com
>
>
> "AMY Z." <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Hi I'm fairly new with functions. I am working with Excel 2003
> >
> > I wrote a simple function =SUM(A1,A2)
> > The cell the function is in is cell A3.
> >
> > What's weird is, the formula is always displayed in the A3 cell. Not in
> the
> > background.
> > The spreadsheet was started by someone else. Would they have some kind of
> > format that causes this? I've never had this problem before.
> >
> > Hope I explained this right.
> > Thanks for your time
> > Amy
>
>
>

Hi I'm fairly new with functions. I am working with Excel 2003

I wrote a simple function =SUM(A1,A2)
The cell the function is in is cell A3.

What's weird is, the formula is always displayed in the A3 cell. Not in the
background.
The spreadsheet was started by someone else. Would they have some kind of
format that causes this? I've never had this problem before.

Hope I explained this right.
Thanks for your time
Amy

Hi, Amy. The cell is formatted as text. Try first formatting the cell as
general. If that doesn't work, select it, and hit Edit-->Clear-->All and
save the file, then re-enter your formula. Also, note that your formula is
much easier written as =A1+A2
*******************
~Anne Troy

www.OfficeArticles.com


"AMY Z." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi I'm fairly new with functions. I am working with Excel 2003
>
> I wrote a simple function =SUM(A1,A2)
> The cell the function is in is cell A3.
>
> What's weird is, the formula is always displayed in the A3 cell. Not in
the
> background.
> The spreadsheet was started by someone else. Would they have some kind of
> format that causes this? I've never had this problem before.
>
> Hope I explained this right.
> Thanks for your time
> Amy

Amy,

I'm unsure of what formatting problem is causing this but regardless of the
files size you can sidestep the problem. Select All, copy...file new
page...edit, paste special, whatever you need...formulas, values but NOT
FORMAT.

Hope that helps.

Just some added experience:

It may be easier written, but this is less robust. Simply hitting the
spacebar in A1 or A2 would cause it to display #Value. Sum is a bit more
robust.

=Sum(A1:A2)

since the cells are contiguous.

--
Regards,
Tom Ogilvy

"Anne Troy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:%[email protected]...
> Hi, Amy. The cell is formatted as text. Try first formatting the cell as
> general. If that doesn't work, select it, and hit Edit-->Clear-->All and
> save the file, then re-enter your formula. Also, note that your formula is
> much easier written as =A1+A2
> *******************
> ~Anne Troy
>
> www.OfficeArticles.com
>
>
> "AMY Z." <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Hi I'm fairly new with functions. I am working with Excel 2003
> >
> > I wrote a simple function =SUM(A1,A2)
> > The cell the function is in is cell A3.
> >
> > What's weird is, the formula is always displayed in the A3 cell. Not in
> the
> > background.
> > The spreadsheet was started by someone else. Would they have some kind
of
> > format that causes this? I've never had this problem before.
> >
> > Hope I explained this right.
> > Thanks for your time
> > Amy
>
>

The "Edit-Clear-All-save file" procedure fixed it!
Thank you all for the tips, and taking time to answer my dilemma.
Amy

"Anne Troy" wrote:

> Hi, Amy. The cell is formatted as text. Try first formatting the cell as
> general. If that doesn't work, select it, and hit Edit-->Clear-->All and
> save the file, then re-enter your formula. Also, note that your formula is
> much easier written as =A1+A2
> *******************
> ~Anne Troy
>
> www.OfficeArticles.com
>
>
> "AMY Z." <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Hi I'm fairly new with functions. I am working with Excel 2003
> >
> > I wrote a simple function =SUM(A1,A2)
> > The cell the function is in is cell A3.
> >
> > What's weird is, the formula is always displayed in the A3 cell. Not in
> the
> > background.
> > The spreadsheet was started by someone else. Would they have some kind of
> > format that causes this? I've never had this problem before.
> >
> > Hope I explained this right.
> > Thanks for your time
> > Amy
>
>
>