Text showing as ############

Resolved · High Priority · Version 2007

Mon 26 Oct 2015, 15:22 Delegate Liz said...

Liz has attended:
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Text showing as ############

My colleague is using one of our templates. When he opens it, text displays as ###############.
He is in 2007.

When I open the same document, I see the text which he entered. I am in 2013 though.

Why is this please?

Mon 26 Oct 2015, 15:52 Trainer Andrew said...

RE: text showing as ############

Hi Liz

Thank you for your question. Excel replaces the values in a cell with ##### symbols when the column is not wide enough to show the full number. In other words it's trying to avoid the user only seeing part of a number. To see the value make the column in question wider. Once the column is wide enough for the whole column then the #### symbols will be replaced by the real number.

The difference between the 2007 and 2013 Excel versions could be down to different zoom or screen resolutions that mean the 2013 version can show all of the value.

I hope this helps - let me know if you run into further problems.

Kind regards,
Andrew

Mon 26 Oct 2015, 16:02 Delegate Liz said...

RE: text showing as ############

Hello
Thanks for your response. I am familiar with the ### for numerical values in the context of inadequate column width.
I don't think thats whats happening here. The content is text not number. Its on wrap.
I thought the versions were designed to be compatible. Its a problem here if I am setting up templates in 2013 for users in earlier versions, if this is the outcome.
Why would it show hash signs for non-numerical content?
liz

Mon 26 Oct 2015, 16:37 Trainer Andrew said...

RE: text showing as ############

Hi Liz

Thank you for letting me know - in that case the problem could be to do with how much text is stored in the cell.

Both versions have the same total number of characters that a cell can contain - which is 32,767 characters

In 2007 you may find that the column with #### is formatted as text. Try formatting as General instead and see if that displays the rest of the contents. The Text format displays only the first 255 characters.

Let me know how you get on.

Some compatibility information is available below:

Excel 2007
https://support.office.com/en-au/article/Excel-specifications-and-limits-16c69c74-3d6a-4aaf-ba35-e6eb276e8eaa

Excel 2013 and 2016
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Excel-specifications-and-limits-ca36e2dc-1f09-4620-b726-67c00b05040f

Kind regards,
Andrew

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