I'm working in EXCEL 2002, and I have a workbook that someone created with
about 1000 records. When I copy a range of cells to a blank workbook, they
all come out with a formatting pattern that hides all the data (essentially
black). If I paste the same range of cells anywhere in the original workbook
everything works normally. If I match the destination formatting in the new
workbook, it comes out fine there also. There is no conditional formatting
set anywhere. My question is...why does this happen?

"Al" wrote in message
...
I'm working in EXCEL 2002, and I have a workbook that someone created with
about 1000 records. When I copy a range of cells to a blank workbook,
they
all come out with a formatting pattern that hides all the data
(essentially
black). If I paste the same range of cells anywhere in the original
workbook
everything works normally. If I match the destination formatting in the
new
workbook, it comes out fine there also. There is no conditional
formatting
set anywhere. My question is...why does this happen?

What do you mean by "essentially black"? Rectangular cells fill with a black
pattern???

Can you provide a few samples of the actual data?

When I look at the cell formatting in the new workbook, on the Patterns tab,
it indicates that the pattern is one of the diagonal crosshatches, but the
appearance of the cells is a solid dark gray. If I set the same pattern
myself, it's roughly 50/50 line/space. In trying to extract a sample file, I
see something I didn't notice before. The very first time I paste in the new
workbook, it works fine, but every paste of anything after that has this
strange pattern effect.

"Al" wrote in message
...
When I look at the cell formatting in the new workbook, on the Patterns
tab,
it indicates that the pattern is one of the diagonal crosshatches, but the
appearance of the cells is a solid dark gray. If I set the same pattern
myself, it's roughly 50/50 line/space. In trying to extract a sample
file, I
see something I didn't notice before. The very first time I paste in the
new
workbook, it works fine, but every paste of anything after that has this
strange pattern effect.

Al, there's nothing odd about the sample file you sent me. So, my working
theory is that someone using that computer has created a custom template
that Excel's using each time you as for a new workbook. Below is info from
Excel's help file, which tells you how to do that. Before actually doing it,
though, I'd navigate to the folders it suggests, and see if there's a file
called "sheet.xlt". Move it elsewhere on the disk, restart Excel, open a new
sheet, and see if the problem is solved.

Just one thing - the help file info below is from Excel 2000, which
pre-dates Windows XP. User profiles are no longer beneath the c:\windows
folder. They're beneath "Documents and Settings". So, mine looks like this:

C:\Documents and Settings\Doug\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel\XLSTART

Yours will be similar.

Help file info:

Create a sheet template for new worksheets
1.. Create a workbook that contains one worksheet. On the worksheet,
include the formatting, styles, text, and other information you want to
appear on all new sheets of the same type.


2.. On the File menu, click Save As.
Show Me

3.. In the Save as type box, click Template (*.xlt).


4.. In the Save in box, select the folder where you want to store the
template.
To create the default worksheet template, select either the XLStart folder
or the alternate startup folder. The XLStart folder is usually
C:\os\Profiles\user_name\Application Data\Microsoft\Excel\XLStart
where os is the operating system folder - for example, Windows.

To create a custom sheet template, select the Templates folder, which is
usually
C:\os\Profiles\user_name\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates
where os is the operating system folder - for example, Windows.

5.. In the File name box, type sheet to create a template for default
worksheets.
To create a custom sheet template, type any valid file name.

6.. Click Save, and then click Close on the File menu.

Doug,
That's a good thought, but it doesn't explain what I see, since the copy
comes out clean if I select "Match Destination Formatting" in the Paste
Options pulldown. I'm also familiar with templates, and I have no sheet.xlt
(this is on my machine, and I've never set a sheet template). I know the
problem is linked to the source formatting somehow, but I don't understand
how. I can cleanly copy into the new workbook from several other files I've
tried, even after the strange copy from my original workbook. After the
first copy/paste from the "trouble" file, all copies from that file show up
this way, but no copy/paste from any other file I've tried does this, and
sequence of doing these copies has no effect.

Obviously, fixing this is nothing more than a nuisance, but I wish I knew
the cause.

"Al" wrote in message
...
Doug,
That's a good thought, but it doesn't explain what I see, since the copy
comes out clean if I select "Match Destination Formatting" in the Paste
Options pulldown. I'm also familiar with templates, and I have no
sheet.xlt
(this is on my machine, and I've never set a sheet template). I know the
problem is linked to the source formatting somehow, but I don't understand
how. I can cleanly copy into the new workbook from several other files
I've
tried, even after the strange copy from my original workbook. After the
first copy/paste from the "trouble" file, all copies from that file show
up
this way, but no copy/paste from any other file I've tried does this, and
sequence of doing these copies has no effect.

Obviously, fixing this is nothing more than a nuisance, but I wish I knew
the cause.

This is interesting. When I first tried what you've described, I only did it
with the first line of data, and it worked fine. Then, I closed the new
workbook & opened a fresh one. I selected a range in your sheet from B5
through P98, copied & pasted it, and it came out black. I closed the new
sheet, opened another, repeated the process, and it came out normal. I'm
stumped.

If this sheet were mine, I'd recreate it from scratch, copy the data over
using Paste Special, Values, and see what happens.