"Spiky" wrote:


I would say a more serious issue is a user who doesn't bother to check
what any sort of automatic entry does.

Yes, I agree relying on an automatic entry is asking for trouble. However,
I do expect a certain predictable behaviour. In this case the user is
highlighting a single column range and then hitting the autosum with the
expectation that autosum would sum() the selected range. In this simple
example, overriding the users selection is not appropriate. If the user had
used '=B6*-1' and not '=-B6' in cell D6, this issue would never have surfaced.



Ignoring another SUM function in some circumstances is a feature, not
a bug. It can assume that you are creating a column of sections with
totals and only want to sum up to the previous section.


It may be a feature, but rather than silently changing your selected range,
a good feature would point out your possible mistake and allow you to accept
the change or confirm your original intent.

But also, when I tried to recreate this (XL2003) by selecting D3:D8
and hitting Autosum, it worked how you want it to. Now, if I select
only D8 and hit Autosum, it chooses only D6:D7. But, IME, that is
because of the empty cells D4:D5 and is normal behavior. Perhaps you
have more cells with SUM functions nearby (in C8?) and it is copying
from them?


Try it again as follows:

A B C D
1
2 10
3 10 sum(a2:a3) sum(b3:c3)
4
5 10
6 10 sum(a5:a6) =-b6
7
8

Highlight d3:d8 and then hit autosum. It will *not* use highlighted range
but substitutes it's own d6:d7. Change d6 to =b6*-1 and try again and it
works!

I've tried this on a few different machines and the versions indicated.


You like little annoyances? Here's mine for the week: Yesterday F4
stopped working as repeat for me. And the button isn't broken, it
works elsewhere.


Yes annoyances are everywhere. Avoiding them seems futile some days.

Lawrence