How do I avoid getting "too many different cell formats" error?

[kgundy40]

I am using a pretty complicated spreadsheet to do monthly inventory (also
uses formulas to calculate total sold, & value of current inventory) of about
300 items, but have never gotten this message before. I've used tihis same
spreadsheet for the past 2 years also, without glitches. I tried deleting the
cells in question and starting with new cells, but still got the message "too
many different cell formats". I was trying to add color fill to differentiate
groups of products. Heop please!

 

[Dave Peterson]

Some info:

XL: Error Message: Too Many Different Cell Formats
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=213904

If you get to a point where you can't open the file in excel, then a few people
have posted that they could open the file in OpenOffice, then remove some of the
formatting, save it and then excel would open that file ok.

http://www.openoffice.org, a 60-65 meg download or a CD