Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.misc
|
|||
|
|||
Concatenating Cells
I have spent hours this afternoon in Excel 2003 trying to concatenate two adjacent text columns into a third column defined as Text format. It doesn't work, the result cell just displays the formula you enter {e.g. =A1&B1 or =CONCATENATE(A1,B1)}. I discovered after a great deal of frustration that this will only work if the cell containing the formula is formatted as '*General'*. All the MS command help refers to the data being concatenated as 'text' data as does the command help that displays as you type. I found no help on this on the MS site and trawling the web came up with nothing either. It seems incredible to me that a standard text operation like this will only work in a format of 'General' which is a pretty non-descript format anyway - 'General format cells have no specific number format' is the helpful description you get when applying this format to cells in Excel. ...or maybe I've missed something. Any help gratefully received. Many thanks. -- jbenet ------------------------------------------------------------------------ jbenet's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=29531 View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=492297 |
#2
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.misc
|
|||
|
|||
Concatenating Cells
Hello, The Text you have in the first two columns should not matter what the format is. I think that the problem lies with the beginning format of the cells that you are entering the formula in. Start with formatting the cells where you are entering your formula as general. Enter the formula. Drag down as needed. Then change the formatting of those cells to Text if you want. It doesn't matter what formula you type in a cell, if it is formatted as Text, all you will get is the formula in Text. i.e. =A1+B1 will appear as is. HTH Cheers, Steve -- SteveG ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SteveG's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...fo&userid=7571 View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=492297 |
#3
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.misc
|
|||
|
|||
Concatenating Cells
Actually, I believe both CONCATENATE and ref&ref method work for all number formats except TEXT. It sounds like your cells are formatted as TEXT (FormatCellsNumber tabCategory: TEXT) which would return the fomula and not it's returned value. Is that the case? Regards, Ron -- Ron Coderre ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ron Coderre's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=21419 View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=492297 |
#4
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.misc
|
|||
|
|||
Concatenating Cells
Thanks you two guys. Yes, you are right but doesn't it seem odd that a text manipulation function doesn't work with a result field pre-formatted as text!? John -- jbenet ------------------------------------------------------------------------ jbenet's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=29531 View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=492297 |
#5
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.misc
|
|||
|
|||
Concatenating Cells
When you format a cell as text, you are not formatting the output; you are
telling excel to show exactly what is entered (which in your case looks like a formula). Every other format is for manipulating numbers. And when text is the result of a formula it ignores any formatting, and shows the result exactly. "jbenet" wrote: I have spent hours this afternoon in Excel 2003 trying to concatenate two adjacent text columns into a third column defined as Text format. It doesn't work, the result cell just displays the formula you enter {e.g. =A1&B1 or =CONCATENATE(A1,B1)}. I discovered after a great deal of frustration that this will only work if the cell containing the formula is formatted as '*General'*. All the MS command help refers to the data being concatenated as 'text' data as does the command help that displays as you type. I found no help on this on the MS site and trawling the web came up with nothing either. It seems incredible to me that a standard text operation like this will only work in a format of 'General' which is a pretty non-descript format anyway - 'General format cells have no specific number format' is the helpful description you get when applying this format to cells in Excel. ...or maybe I've missed something. Any help gratefully received. Many thanks. -- jbenet ------------------------------------------------------------------------ jbenet's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=29531 View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=492297 |
#6
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.misc
|
|||
|
|||
Concatenating Cells
All spreadsheet formulas MUST begin with the "=" character (as originally
designed by MS), however they expanded it to accomodate the Lotus 1-2-3 users by granting/allowing the "+" or "-" signs to enter formulas. Concatenation is a formula since it starts with the "=" character. NO MATTER what, if a cell is formatted as Text the character "=" in the first position becomes text, NOT the mathmatical - operator "=". Does that help? "jbenet" wrote in message ... Thanks you two guys. Yes, you are right but doesn't it seem odd that a text manipulation function doesn't work with a result field pre-formatted as text!? John -- jbenet ------------------------------------------------------------------------ jbenet's Profile: http://www.excelforum.com/member.php...o&userid=29531 View this thread: http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=492297 |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
checking that cells have a value before the workbook will close | Excel Worksheet Functions | |||
how do you "select locked cells" w/o "select unlocked cells"? | Excel Discussion (Misc queries) | |||
Counting only active cells | Excel Discussion (Misc queries) | |||
Help adding text values | Excel Worksheet Functions | |||
Convert data type of cells to Text,Number,Date and Time | Excel Worksheet Functions |