Excel and entering text in cells

[consiglieri]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hi
I need to use excel in the following way. I'll have two columns (say A and B) Column A will contain only text, but can contain quite a bit of text. I hav noticed that if I format the cells in A to use "text" the cells will only display about 300 characters before I get the #####. However if I set the format to "General" the cell will dipslay much more text, however, regardless of the size of the cell at a certain point the cell does not display all text unless I am actually in the cell - i.e it pops up the content and you can see all the text. This behaviour happens even if the cell is most certainly larger in size than the text in the cell.

All in all excel and text seems to be very difficult. I realize excel is not word and you cant expect the same amount of functions. But text behaves odd and the built in help doesnt really give any answers ( that i could find). I hope someone can help me understand excel's "text" capabilities.

Thanks

 

[consiglieri]

Hi
Juts realized one can do text boxes in excel. But can one create a textbox that is anchored to a particular cell so that when the text box expands to accommodate text the cell also expands?

 

[John McGhie]

For this application, stay away from Excel's number format of "Text". That
is designed for ASCII text strings, and there is indeed a limit of 256
characters.

The format you want is "General". That will allow about 32,000 characters
of text, but you can only "see" the first 3,000-odd. That should be enough
for you.

Set the "Alignment" to "Top" and "Left".

Turn the "Wrap Text" checkbox on.

Select all the rows and choose Format>Row>Autofit.

Grab the right border of the column and drag it to a suitable width.

Put your formulas in the other cells. Select the cells you do not want the
users to be able to change and right-click. Under Protection, ensure
"Locked" is on. For cells you want the user to be able to change, select,
right-click, and ensure "Locked" is OFF.

Now from the Tools menu, choose Protection" and "Protect Sheet".

Users will now be able to change only the unlocked cells.

The key to understanding Excel is that it is indeed not Word. Excel is a
"Sparse Matrix", a pre-filled grid if you like. In Excel, everything is a
cell.

Why do you need so much text in Column A? Surely just the name of the item
would be sufficient, and its price.

It's not a good idea to have more than one "thing" in a cell in Excel, it
makes it difficult to re-use the data later. If you are making up an
Invoice, instead of putting all of the ordered items in a cell, give each
its own cell, just one name per cell, with the extended price in the next
column.

Then you can make Excel do all the sums for you

Hope this helps

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hi
I need to use excel in the following way. I'll have two columns (say A and B)
Column A will contain only text, but can contain quite a bit of text. I hav
noticed that if I format the cells in A to use "text" the cells will only
display about 300 characters before I get the #####. However if I set the
format to "General" the cell will dipslay much more text, however, regardless
of the size of the cell at a certain point the cell does not display all text
unless I am actually in the cell - i.e it pops up the content and you can see
all the text. This behaviour happens even if the cell is most certainly larger
in size than the text in the cell.

All in all excel and text seems to be very difficult. I realize excel is not
word and you cant expect the same amount of functions. But text behaves odd
and the built in help doesnt really give any answers ( that i could find). I
hope someone can help me understand excel's "text" capabilities.

Thanks

--

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[qryn]

Have you tried the option: Format Cells > Text > Alignment > Warp text...

If this does not do it for you there are some more options there that may help you...

Good luck

 

[consiglieri]

Why do you need so much text in Column A? Surely just the name of the item

would be sufficient, and its price.

The reason I need so much text is that I have to write a specified bill (kind of) and it has to contain all of the different items and things I have done under certain specific moments.
I tried using a form in word but that was no good because i cannot protect cells and at the same time have the update.

I shall give your instructions a whirl
thanks

 

[consiglieri]

Have you tried the option: Format Cells > Text > Alignment > Warp text...

If this does not do it for you there are some more options there that may help you...

Good luck

Yes simply wrapping does not do the trick

 

[John McGhie]

Even so, I would be inclined to put "one line per cell".

Late of you need to analyse the data you cal do thinks such as "Select all
bills that have "call a plumber" in cell A22"

Cheers

The reason I need so much text is that I have to write a specified bill (kind
of) and it has to contain all of the different items and things I have done
under certain specific moments.
I tried using a form in word but that was no good because i cannot protect
cells and at the same time have the update.

I shall give your instructions a whirl
thanks

--

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hi
I need to use excel in the following way. I'll have two columns (say A and B)
Column A will contain only text, but can contain quite a bit of text. I hav
noticed that if I format the cells in A to use "text" the cells will only
display about 300 characters before I get the #####. However if I set the
format to "General" the cell will dipslay much more text, however, regardless
of the size of the cell at a certain point the cell does not display all text
unless I am actually in the cell - i.e it pops up the content and you can see
all the text. This behaviour happens even if the cell is most certainly
larger in size than the text in the cell.

All in all excel and text seems to be very difficult. I realize excel is not
word and you cant expect the same amount of functions. But text behaves odd
and the built in help doesnt really give any answers ( that i could find). I
hope someone can help me understand excel's "text" capabilities.

Each cell can contain 32,767 characters, and will display/print up to
1,024 characters.

There's no reason I can think of that a cell would stop at 300
characters if you're putting text into the cells. And text should never
display ###### - only numbers/dates or formulae should do that.

OTOH, simply formatting a cell as text doesn't change the value/formula
stored in the cell, though it will change how subsequent entries are
interpreted (or not).

You can extend the number of characters displayed by inserting a
linefeed (CMD-OPTION-ENTER) at least every 1024 characters.