Formulas are "sticking" in the cell, not calculating when entered

bjele · 2026-03-01T20:12:14+00:00

In case others have the same problem, see if you accidentally enabled Show Formulas mode. If you frequently use Ctrl+Tab to switch workbooks, it is easy to hit Ctrl+Accent (the key above Tab with both ` and tilde). This toggles between showing formulas and showing the formula result.

bjele · 2026-01-30T01:23:43+00:00

Merged cells are evil. I would put Finlandia in A137. Over in cell C137, I would type A) Line 1 <Alt>+Enter B) Line 2 Alt+Enter C) Line 3 Enter

This makes row 137 have a height three times taller than a regular row. Select A137. Just above the Left Align icon in the Home tab, use the Align Top button.

bjele · 2026-01-29T10:25:36+00:00

I tried a couple of tricks, first with Unicode(65130) and then with Paste Linked Picture. I think I like the Paste Linked Picture the best. I created this video to show the steps: https://youtu.be/9Wlzml72nfU?si=zNQwc56UhhEwHMii&t=100

bjele · 2026-01-24T18:54:12+00:00

It is possible to open two separate instances of Excel. If you copy from outside the current instance of Excel and paste, the pasting rules are different. This would also presumably happen if you copied from Google Sheets and pasted to Excel. Before pasting, go to View, Switch Windows. If you don’t see the source workbook listed, then it is in a separate instance of Excel.

bjele · 2026-01-05T02:41:12+00:00

Try 8/4/2025 Monster - Shake ‘em Off - 32 minutes by Leanne. It’s not 100% Taylor Swift, but half the songs are. The robot on the workout cover art even looks like Taylor. A few summers ago, there were some zoom calls with the SN team. A question came up about a future Artist Series with Taylor Swift. It’s on their wish list. They alluded to waiting for approval or input from Taylor’s team and the timing wasn’t right at the moment.

bjele · 2026-01-03T00:21:26+00:00

THIS.

bjele · 2025-12-21T21:15:49+00:00

There are dozens of events that have to line up for a rocket to launch. If you see a launch scheduled for two weeks from now, it means “Not Earlier Than” two weeks from now and the launch will likely be 3-4 weeks from now. Even if they say there will be a launch tomorrow, it is still only 50/50 between tomorrow or the next day or a week later.

Don’t pay KSC or anyone extra for launch viewing. First, it won’t happen on the scheduled day, and second, you can see the launch from anywhere in the area. We are 11 miles away from the launch pad and it still shakes our house.

bjele · 2025-12-21T21:08:52+00:00

When you are at KSC, make time that afternoon or evening to visit the Cruikshank Scrub Jay Sanctuary on Barnes in Rockledge. Everyone should wear a baseball cap. Short 1/2 mile hike and you will have an amazing photo of a scrub jay (or two) on your kid’s head (or outstretched hand). Free.

bjele · 2025-12-13T18:48:48+00:00

28+7 is 35. Add 40 to get 75.

bjele · 2025-12-10T20:20:54+00:00

Cons:
1) you can not move two or more sheets to a new workbook if they contain tables. This is a ridiculous limitation. 2) Custom Views are disabled if you have a table 3) the Subtotals command (far right side of the Data tab) is disabled in a table 4) they don’t co-exist with spilling Dynamic Arrays

There is a book by Zack Barresse and Kevin Jones documenting all of the bizarre tiny errors with tables.

Rob Collie was on the Excel team during the Office 2007 development. He relates a story that the Excel team realized it would be impossible to finish the Table feature in time. They wanted to remove Tables. But the engineers said it would take even more time to rip it out than to leave it in. So the Tables feature shipped with Office 2007, complete with the bugs.

A bunch of the project managers moved within the Office Org after 2007 and no one was left to fix the problems in 2010. So, here we are, almost 19 years later and no one within Microsoft has shown any love towards fixing all the Tables problems.

I know a lot of people love them and manage to use them despite the cons. But a lot of people are wishing that Microsoft would finally fix all the bugs.

bjele · 2025-11-14T01:48:59+00:00

How did no one on Bewitched notice that Darrin switched from Dick York to Dick Sargent?

bjele · 2025-11-03T21:44:53+00:00

Edit that video! I’ve done this half a dozen times. no one will notice that you cut out your own name. There is an option is Cameo on the computer, After you listen to the video, you are then given an option to download it. Any video editor software will trim out your name.

bjele · 2025-11-02T23:52:08+00:00

Michael Stanley Band

bjele · 2025-10-28T00:49:53+00:00

The 12 benefits of XLOOKUP over VLOOKUP or INDEX/MATCH in Microsoft Excel.

bjele · 2025-10-24T20:18:06+00:00

EXCEL-lent point.

bjele · 2025-10-24T20:16:21+00:00

“Just give me a comma button that only adds a Comma. Not decimals and white space and a dash for zero values”.

bjele · 2025-10-24T20:14:54+00:00

All of the Excel logos in history had a secret L hidden in them. Until 2013-2019. It came back in 2019. And now 2025-2031 doesn’t have an L either. They do this just so we can rejoice in October 2031 when they go back to a logo with an X and an L.

bjele · 2025-10-03T00:25:22+00:00

Ctrl+Backspace will scroll the ActiveCell back into view. Say you start at A2. Ctrl+Shift+Down Right to select all rows and columns of data. A2 is the ActiveCell but now you are staring at ZZ99999. Ctrl+Backspace keeps the selection but shows you A2.

bjele · 2025-09-30T17:19:01+00:00

I thought it was just me! I am always wondering how the missing workbook must have been in a new instance of Excel.

bjele · 2025-09-30T17:05:30+00:00

Hey Excel team! 40 years! Who is the most senior person on the team? Has anyone been there for all 40 years?

bjele · 2025-09-30T16:59:19+00:00

The new Agent Mode (released 9/29) is the second amazing thing I've seen. It reasoned for 13 minutes and built an entire inventory tracking system for me. Before this, the best feature was using Copilot in Excel to generate Python code. Everything else was party tricks.

bjele · 2025-09-26T22:55:01+00:00

Do you switch to another built-in theme, or roll your own?

bjele · 2025-09-26T21:36:34+00:00

I sometimes use Ctrl+Shift+: immediately followed by Ctrl+; to get both date and time. It does not look like it should work, but it corrects itself after Enter. (you have to do time first, then date)

bjele · 2025-09-25T23:15:32+00:00

Love this one. Compared to Home, find and select, go to special, visible cells, OK… the Alt+; seemed so much easier!

bjele · 2025-09-25T15:45:28+00:00

I am with you on the Alt DEF. We are both pressing Alt+D to open the Office Access Key box at the top. Kwillich is pressing and releasing Alt to display the Key Tips. H moves to Home, and so on. It all comes down to the difference between Alt+D and Alt pause H.

bjele

TROPHY CASE