I can no longer highlight data in my excel document - was okay before. It
just comes up as a series of flashing dotd/lines as in when sizing picture or
text box.
Also where do you find that screen of little symbols e.g fractions etc

Sounds like are in Paste mode if you have a box of "marching ants" which is the
"marquee" in real terms.

Hit enter to paste.

The little symbols are found under InsertSymbols.

Fractions are found in many font types so you may have to scroll through the
font list.

MS Reference 2 has lots of fractions.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP


On Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:22:20 -0700, montdix
wrote:

I can no longer highlight data in my excel document - was okay before. It
just comes up as a series of flashing dotd/lines as in when sizing picture or
text box.
Also where do you find that screen of little symbols e.g fractions etc

Hi,

Display numbers as fractions

Use the Fraction format to display or type numbers as actual fractions,
rather than decimals.

1. Select the cell or range of cells that you want to format.

2. On the Format menu, click Cells.
3. On the Number tab, click Fraction in the Category list.
4. In the Type list, click the fraction format type that you want to use.

Available fraction formats

Fraction format This format displays 123.456 as

Single-digit fraction 123 1/2, rounding to the nearest single-digit fraction
value
Double-digit fraction 123 26/57, rounding to the nearest double-digit
fraction value
Triple-digit fraction 123 57/125, rounding to the nearest triple-digit
fraction value
Fraction as halves 123 1/2
Fraction as quarters 123 2/4
Fraction as eighths 123 4/8
Fraction as sixteenths 123 7/16
Fraction as tenths 123 5/10
Fraction as hundredths 123 46/100

Notes

After you apply a fraction format to a cell, decimal numbers as well as
actual fractions that you type in that cell will be displayed as a fraction.
For example, typing .5 or 1/2 results in 1/2 when the cell has been formatted
with a fraction type of Up to one digit.

If no fraction format is applied to a cell, and you type a fraction such as
1/2, it will be formatted as a date. To display it as a fraction, apply a
Fraction format, and then retype the fraction.

If you don't need to perform calculations on fractions, you can format a
cell as Text before you type a fraction into it (Format menu, Cells command,
Number tab). This way, the fractions that you type will not be reduced or
converted to decimals. However, you cannot perform mathematical calculations
on fractions that are displayed as text.

To reset the number format of a selected cell or range, click General in the
Category list. Cells that are formatted with the General format have no
specific number format.

Challa Prabhu

"montdix" wrote:

I can no longer highlight data in my excel document - was okay before. It
just comes up as a series of flashing dotd/lines as in when sizing picture or
text box.
Also where do you find that screen of little symbols e.g fractions etc