Error checking in Excel

Anonymous

I have been using the same excel spreadsheet for over a year, without any problems. For the past coupe of days, a column I have formatted as Number/Special/Zip Code, places an error (triangle in the upper left corner of most cells (but not all) in that column only.

I go to the Excel Preferences/Error Ckecking and remove the checkmark in the 'Turn on background error checking' and the error indicator disappears until I shutdown and reboot (I can file the document and open it again, without problems).

This is on an iMac (Retina 5k 2017), running the macOS Mohave Version 10.14 with Office 365 with Microsoft Excel for Mac Version 16.17.

Any suggestions would be appreciated...

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43 answers

Anonymous

2019-01-10T10:30:13+00:00

Hi Jascdad,

We're not trying to shift the blame on you or anyone else. We are trying to get a better understanding of the issue as we can't get the same behavior on files that are created on our end. We understand the annoyance of having the error when trying to work with your data, so we tried to clean the data and provided you with it as a workaround.

We understand that this is taking a long time to solve and you would rather simply turn off the error notification. If you would like to troubleshoot the issue further in the future, you're welcome to post back.

Lastly, you can also report this via the Feedback tool inside the app to send it directly to the related team.

Regards,

Sheen
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Anonymous

2019-01-09T12:58:40+00:00

Yes, the problem still exists but it is obvious that there is not a fix. The last couple responsive try to place the blame on my ability to use the product as it was designed. I have been a user of Excel since the mid 90's so I now the difference between between numbers and text.

The Category of the column is defined as 'Special' with the Type set to 'Zip Code'. All data is either (a) typed directly into the cell or copied from within the cell itself.

When the problem occurs, it's easier to just go to the Preferences and turn off the Error Checking, then to keep explaining my situation over and over again.

Four months is long enough.
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Anonymous

2019-01-09T07:05:28+00:00

Hi Jacsdad,

Please let us know if you are still getting the error when using the updated Excel file we have provided.

Regards,

Sheen
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Anonymous

2019-01-07T09:09:58+00:00

Hi Jacsdad,

We're still working on this issue and we have did some editing to the sample workbook you provided. We used Text to Columns to convert the data in the problematic column and see that the error disappears.

The ZIP codes you entered in the column may have came from different sources and not typed by hand, so the data type might not have been stored as a Number.

We have tried to clean your workbook and we have not seen the error pop up again. We will provide it via private message, please use it for a few days and let us know if the error shows up again.

For your reference:

Convert numbers stored as text to numbers

Top ten ways to clean your data

Regards,

Sheen
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Anonymous

2018-12-12T07:57:45+00:00

Hi Jacsdad,

I apologize if my wording came off as harsh. I assure you that was not my intention.

I understand from your point of perspective that a cell formatted as Special> ZIP code should not be considered as Text as well as Number, and is special, which would not show the error Excel is giving, even with the Error Checking on.

I will involve the related team for further investigation. We also suggest providing feedback from Excel so that the team can directly receive your feedback and take it into account.

Regards,

Sheen
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