I have an excel spreadsheet with two columns, legal forename and preferred
forename. I ran a "exact" function so it would appear true if the two
surnames were the same or false if not.
There are 180 odd rows so I wanted to just copy and paste or drag the
"exact" formula instead of having to manually entering it for each row.
However whatever method I try the cells all display TRUE, if I then click
into one which I know should be false and click enter then it changes the
result to FALSE.
I don't want to have to do this for every row

It sounds like you're in manual calculation mode.

In xl2003 menus, you can toggle this setting:
tools|options|calculation tab|check automatic



On 05/18/2010 06:17, Nats_uk wrote:
I have an excel spreadsheet with two columns, legal forename and preferred
forename. I ran a "exact" function so it would appear true if the two
surnames were the same or false if not.
There are 180 odd rows so I wanted to just copy and paste or drag the
"exact" formula instead of having to manually entering it for each row.
However whatever method I try the cells all display TRUE, if I then click
into one which I know should be false and click enter then it changes the
result to FALSE.
I don't want to have to do this for every row