How to move cursor in Define Name formula?

[nomail1983]

The formula associated with a name is too long for the Refers To
field.

How do I move the cursor right and left to (a) scroll the formula
within the field and (b) move the cursor to point of editing (insert,
delete)?

When I use the cursor keys, they move the selected cell "cursor",
which causes the newly selected cell reference to be inserted into the
formula -- which is not my intent.

 

[T. Valko]

That's a real PITA, ain't it? I've cussed at it many times!

When you place the cursor inside the refedit (that little box that holds the
formula) make sure you press F2 (Edit mode).

Biff

 

[T. Valko]

P.S.

When you open the dialog and click in the refedit, look at the far left side
of the staus bar. When it says Edit you're safe to use the arrow keys to
scroll without the formula getting messed up. Pressing F2 puts it into Edit
mode. If you see either Enter or Point it'll mess up your formula when you
scroll.

Biff

 

[nomail1983]

When you open the dialog and click in the refedit, look at the far left side
of the staus bar. When it says Edit you're safe to use the arrow keys to
scroll without the formula getting messed up. Pressing F2 puts it into Edit
mode. If you see either Enter or Point it'll mess up your formula when you
scroll.

Great! Thanks. Sigh, I'm sure I will forget about this every time.

 

[Stan Brown]

Mon, 28 May 2007 02:22:50 -0400 from T. Valko

That's a real PITA, ain't it? I've cussed at it many times!

Me too.

When you place the cursor inside the refedit (that little box that
holds the formula) make sure you press F2 (Edit mode).

Aha -- never thought of trying that. Thanks!

 

[T. Valko]

Great! Thanks. Sigh, I'm sure I will forget about this every time.

Yeah, I forget it a lot myself and that's when I start cussing!

Biff

 

[nomail1983]

Pressing F2 puts it into Edit mode. If you see either Enter or
Point it'll mess up your formula when you scroll.

For extra credit, donts'pose you know how (if it can be done) to cut-
and-paste into or out of the Refers To field in the Define Name dialog
box.

I would find it useful to cut-and-paste long formulas from a cell into
the Refers To field initially.

I also would find it useful to cut-and-paste formulas out of the field
into a cell. This is particularly helpful when using Evaluate Formula
to debug some unexpected behavior.

Since I am a strong believer in human error, I don't trust myself to
retype things verbatim. Often it is the subtle typo that is the
culprit -- which I avoid unconsciously when I retype the formula.

 

[Dave Peterson]

Lots of dialogs don't support rightclick|copy or rightclick|paste.

But they still may support ctrl-c (for copy), ctrl-x (for cut) and ctrl-v (for
paste).

Those keystrokes will work in the insert|name|define dialog.

 

[Gord Dibben]

Select the formula in the formula bar and CRTL + c the CTRL + v to the dialog
box.

This works also for Data Validation or CF formulas.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP