Copy data from once cell to another

[Uncle Dave]

In the past I used "SUM" (@SUM or =SUM) to get data from one cell to
repeat in another. It's driving me crazy that when I do that in the
spreadsheet I'm building using Excel 2004 for the Mac all I see is the
formula, not the result.

I know it has to be something simple (and yes, automatic calculation
is on) but I can't find the magic word that will persuade the help or
assistant to let me in on the secret.

HEEEELLLPPPP!!!!

Thanks in advance

David

 

[JE McGimpsey]

In the past I used "SUM" (@SUM or =SUM) to get data from one cell to
repeat in another. It's driving me crazy that when I do that in the
spreadsheet I'm building using Excel 2004 for the Mac all I see is the
formula, not the result.

I know it has to be something simple (and yes, automatic calculation
is on) but I can't find the magic word that will persuade the help or
assistant to let me in on the secret.

First, you never need to use SUM() to copy values - it just adds the
overhead of a function. Instead, you can use

=A1

to copy the value from A1.

As for your problem, there are at least a couple of possibilities:

1) If you have cells formatted as Text, XL doesn't evaluate the input,
it assumes you mean to start the Text with "=".

2) If the cells are formatted as General or a number format, it's
possible that you have the Preferences/View/Window Options/Formula
checkbox checked. Uncheck that and the values should appear in the cell.

 

[Uncle Dave]

First, you never need to use SUM() to copy values - it just adds the
overhead of a function. Instead, you can use

=A1

to copy the value from A1.

OK, thanks for that, I changed them.

As for your problem, there are at least a couple of possibilities:

1) If you have cells formatted as Text, XL doesn't evaluate the input,
it assumes you mean to start the Text with "=".

2) If the cells are formatted as General or a number format, it's
possible that you have the Preferences/View/Window Options/Formula
checkbox checked. Uncheck that and the values should appear in the cell.

The relevant cells were formatted as Text - I remember changing
that to see if it made any difference, so I changed them to General
and nothing happened. I went in to the prefs and the checkox was
unchecked. So I checked it then unchecked it, applied it and lo and
behold it worked!

Thanks for the help, it might not have worked as intended, but it
worked!

Cheers

David