Rick, I'm embarrassed to say this last problem was simply the format of the
cells. They were formatted as text instead of general. This was definitely a
case of making something harder than it was. Thanks again for your patience
and helpful advice, it will go a long way. Sincerely, -Kevin

"Rick Rothstein (MVP - VB)" wrote:

I don't work with merged cells myself (they can be such a pain, as you have
found out). Anyway, unless you are still in a merged cell or something, I
don't see why you can't change the text in the message... it is straight
editing and should not affect the formula's functionality unless you
accidentally changed a function name or removed the leading equal sign.

Rick