Functions in Calc 4.4.2.2

users
#1

I hate to ask this, since I thought of myself as pretty competent in Calc.
But here goes:

I can't run even the simplest functions in the spreadsheet. E.g, =3-2 shows
up in the designated cell as a text string "=3-2" rather than the digit 1. I
also get text strings instead of proper results for =SUM(A1:A10), say, and
all other functions. This happens in LO 4.4.2.2 as well as in ver. 4.3.5,
which previously worked fine. A virus scan of the LO installation folder
turned up nothing. Since I haven't used Calc for a long time, I'm reluctant
to go back to a previous restore point without trying some other things
first. Can anyone suggest what I might do now? I'm running Win7x64. - edo1

#2

edo1 wrote:

> I hate to ask this, since I thought of myself as pretty competent in Calc.
> But here goes:
>
> I can't run even the simplest functions in the spreadsheet. E.g, =3-2 shows
> up in the designated cell as a text string "=3-2" rather than the digit 1. I
> also get text strings instead of proper results for =SUM(A1:A10), say, and
> all other functions. This happens in LO 4.4.2.2 as well as in ver. 4.3.5,
> which previously worked fine. A virus scan of the LO installation folder
> turned up nothing. Since I haven't used Calc for a long time, I'm reluctant
> to go back to a previous restore point without trying some other things
> first. Can anyone suggest what I might do now? I'm running Win7x64. - edo1

Check your preferences, I guess this is Tool->Options on Windows.

then LibreOffice Calc->View->Display-> uncheck Formulas

#3

Piet van Oostrum wrote

edo1 wrote:
> I hate to ask this, since I thought of myself as pretty competent in
Calc.
> But here goes:
>
> I can't run even the simplest functions in the spreadsheet. E.g, =3-2
shows
> up in the designated cell as a text string "=3-2" rather than the digit
1. I
> also get text strings instead of proper results for =SUM(A1:A10), say,
and
> all other functions. This happens in LO 4.4.2.2 as well as in ver.
4.3.5,
> which previously worked fine. A virus scan of the LO installation
folder
> turned up nothing. Since I haven't used Calc for a long time, I'm
reluctant
> to go back to a previous restore point without trying some other things
> first. Can anyone suggest what I might do now? I'm running Win7x64. -
edo1

Check your preferences, I guess this is Tool->Options on Windows.

then LibreOffice Calc->View->Display-> uncheck Formulas

Thanks, Piet. I hadn't known that choice is available. - edo1

#4

Piet van Oostrum wrote:

edo1 wrote:

  > I hate to ask this, since I thought of myself as pretty competent in Calc.
  > But here goes:
  >
  > I can't run even the simplest functions in the spreadsheet. E.g, =3-2 shows
  > up in the designated cell as a text string "=3-2" rather than the digit 1. I
  > also get text strings instead of proper results for =SUM(A1:A10), say, and
  > all other functions. This happens in LO 4.4.2.2 as well as in ver. 4.3.5,
  > which previously worked fine. A virus scan of the LO installation folder
  > turned up nothing. Since I haven't used Calc for a long time, I'm reluctant
  > to go back to a previous restore point without trying some other things
  > first. Can anyone suggest what I might do now? I'm running Win7x64. - edo1

Check your preferences, I guess this is Tool->Options on Windows.

then LibreOffice Calc->View->Display-> uncheck Formulas

Another possibility is that the cells are formatted as "Text", rather than "General" or a numerical format. Make sure they're formatted as either General or the required numerical format before entering the formulas.

"General" is usually the default for all cells in new documents, but it is possible to change the default template.

Mark.

#5

Hi :slight_smile:
I suspect that this problem is solved now, thanks to Piet van Oostrum.

Hopefully the cells didn't get formatted into text, as Mark suggested, but
once things have gone wrong for no readily apparent reason it's good to
know of a few weird and unlikely possibilities. Following along Mark's
line-of-thought i wondered if cells maybe had a ' character added at the
start of each affected cell. If so then that forces the spreadsheet to
treat the cell as "text" regardless of whatever formatting has been set for
that cell. Again i think it's unlikely but it's a way of generating the
type of result that you are seeing.

A random cat or malicious (or random) colleague could probably do Piet's
suggestion quite quickly by accident but mine or Mark's suggestion would
take quite a bit more work.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile: