# signs where there shouldn't be....

I have a simple spreadsheet that I've been building on for the past couple
months, and I have a column with dates in it. It's formatted to do the date
as 14-Aug (so that I can enter "8/14" and it changes it for me), but over the
past few days, it's decided to display ##### instead of 14-Aug. When you
double click the darn thing, it shows the date as 8/14/2006 like it always
has, but everything I've tried won't make the pound signs go away when I'm
just viewing the document. Any ideas?

By the way, the document has 238 rows and counting, but I don't think the
length should effect it....

Oh, and I have another date column right next to this one, and it has no
problem showing the dates correctly.

"dramajuana" wrote:

> I have a simple spreadsheet that I've been building on for the past couple
> months, and I have a column with dates in it. It's formatted to do the date
> as 14-Aug (so that I can enter "8/14" and it changes it for me), but over the
> past few days, it's decided to display ##### instead of 14-Aug. When you
> double click the darn thing, it shows the date as 8/14/2006 like it always
> has, but everything I've tried won't make the pound signs go away when I'm
> just viewing the document. Any ideas?
>
> By the way, the document has 238 rows and counting, but I don't think the
> length should effect it....

Have you tried widening the column?

--
Regards
Ken....................... Microsoft MVP - Excel
Sys Spec - Win XP Pro / XL 97/00/02/03

------------------------------*------------------------------*----------------
It's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission :-)
------------------------------*------------------------------*----------------


"dramajuana" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Oh, and I have another date column right next to this one, and it has no
> problem showing the dates correctly.
>
> "dramajuana" wrote:
>
>> I have a simple spreadsheet that I've been building on for the past
>> couple
>> months, and I have a column with dates in it. It's formatted to do the
>> date
>> as 14-Aug (so that I can enter "8/14" and it changes it for me), but over
>> the
>> past few days, it's decided to display ##### instead of 14-Aug. When you
>> double click the darn thing, it shows the date as 8/14/2006 like it
>> always
>> has, but everything I've tried won't make the pound signs go away when
>> I'm
>> just viewing the document. Any ideas?
>>
>> By the way, the document has 238 rows and counting, but I don't think the
>> length should effect it....

It just means that the column is too narrow for the data to be
displayed.




dramajuana wrote:
> I have a simple spreadsheet that I've been building on for the past couple
> months, and I have a column with dates in it. It's formatted to do the date
> as 14-Aug (so that I can enter "8/14" and it changes it for me), but over the
> past few days, it's decided to display ##### instead of 14-Aug. When you
> double click the darn thing, it shows the date as 8/14/2006 like it always
> has, but everything I've tried won't make the pound signs go away when I'm
> just viewing the document. Any ideas?
>
> By the way, the document has 238 rows and counting, but I don't think the
> length should effect it....

Check the columns width, it sounds like the column is too narrow to display
the text.

"dramajuana" wrote:

> Oh, and I have another date column right next to this one, and it has no
> problem showing the dates correctly.
>
> "dramajuana" wrote:
>
> > I have a simple spreadsheet that I've been building on for the past couple
> > months, and I have a column with dates in it. It's formatted to do the date
> > as 14-Aug (so that I can enter "8/14" and it changes it for me), but over the
> > past few days, it's decided to display ##### instead of 14-Aug. When you
> > double click the darn thing, it shows the date as 8/14/2006 like it always
> > has, but everything I've tried won't make the pound signs go away when I'm
> > just viewing the document. Any ideas?
> >
> > By the way, the document has 238 rows and counting, but I don't think the
> > length should effect it....

I have now. I feel stupid. Thanks. (Why the hell does it do that? In some of
my other spreadsheets, it just shrinks the font so that it fits.... oh well.)

"Ken Wright" wrote:

> Have you tried widening the column?
>
> --
> Regards
> Ken....................... Microsoft MVP - Excel
> Sys Spec - Win XP Pro / XL 97/00/02/03
>
> ------------------------------Â*------------------------------Â*----------------
> It's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission :-)
> ------------------------------Â*------------------------------Â*----------------
>
>
> "dramajuana" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Oh, and I have another date column right next to this one, and it has no
> > problem showing the dates correctly.
> >
> > "dramajuana" wrote:
> >
> >> I have a simple spreadsheet that I've been building on for the past
> >> couple
> >> months, and I have a column with dates in it. It's formatted to do the
> >> date
> >> as 14-Aug (so that I can enter "8/14" and it changes it for me), but over
> >> the
> >> past few days, it's decided to display ##### instead of 14-Aug. When you
> >> double click the darn thing, it shows the date as 8/14/2006 like it
> >> always
> >> has, but everything I've tried won't make the pound signs go away when
> >> I'm
> >> just viewing the document. Any ideas?
> >>
> >> By the way, the document has 238 rows and counting, but I don't think the
> >> length should effect it....
>
>
>

"shrink to fit" is an option found in the Alignment Tab of Format Cells.
Normally text will "run over" into the next cell (if empty), but numbers and
dates are different; if there is not enough room, it displays pound signs
instead. I assume this is because the data could easily be misinterpreted.
Also, it is easy to spot that a word has been cut in half, but not a number.


"dramajuana" wrote:

> I have now. I feel stupid. Thanks. (Why the hell does it do that? In some of
> my other spreadsheets, it just shrinks the font so that it fits.... oh well.)
>
> "Ken Wright" wrote:
>
> > Have you tried widening the column?
> >
> > --
> > Regards
> > Ken....................... Microsoft MVP - Excel
> > Sys Spec - Win XP Pro / XL 97/00/02/03
> >
> > ------------------------------Â*------------------------------Â*----------------
> > It's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission :-)
> > ------------------------------Â*------------------------------Â*----------------
> >
> >
> > "dramajuana" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> > > Oh, and I have another date column right next to this one, and it has no
> > > problem showing the dates correctly.
> > >
> > > "dramajuana" wrote:
> > >
> > >> I have a simple spreadsheet that I've been building on for the past
> > >> couple
> > >> months, and I have a column with dates in it. It's formatted to do the
> > >> date
> > >> as 14-Aug (so that I can enter "8/14" and it changes it for me), but over
> > >> the
> > >> past few days, it's decided to display ##### instead of 14-Aug. When you
> > >> double click the darn thing, it shows the date as 8/14/2006 like it
> > >> always
> > >> has, but everything I've tried won't make the pound signs go away when
> > >> I'm
> > >> just viewing the document. Any ideas?
> > >>
> > >> By the way, the document has 238 rows and counting, but I don't think the
> > >> length should effect it....
> >
> >
> >