Autocalculate Box Glitch (2k)

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Just curious here really – it’s not a matter of life and death, but…… I’m clearly operating with numbers of the order 1 x 10^12, but the autocalculate box (if that is it’s correct name) is too small to display all the digits.

Has anyone else come across this or is it my setup? Does anyone know how to resize the box or change the font size in use in the box? I’ve tried Control Panel / Display / Appearance / Font size on all the items I could find, but none seem to work.

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In XL 97, with a default style of General, my Autocalc box defaults to Scientific Notation on very large numbers. If I change the default Style to Number or Currency, I get an overflow as you demonstrated. Hmmm … perhaps you can play with Styles some more?

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I could:

I’ve never used styles before – always thought they were a word thing (and I’m only half joking there!): I don’t seem (2k) to have general but I do have normal. Which shows number as scientific. But having played with styles a bit at your suggestion it does work for me. Only trouble is I get random things like the attached picture happening. And lasting – even if I undo all changes. And I think the format the numbers below are displayed in is a little on the unnecessary side.

Which leads to the but:

[rant]
I don’t like excel’s scientific notation – I’m used to 1.0 x 10^1 – not 1.0E+1. And even though I know what’s going on, everytime I see 1.0E+1 I want to turn it into 1.0 x e^1, which means I get 2.718 instead of 10. It’s probably just as well I no longer work for that aeroplane manufacturer!
[/rant]

Ok, the conclusion so far seems to be to get more familiar with styles. Mind If I put that off ’til tomorrow?

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Brooke, I wasn’t necessarily implying Styles were the solution , I was demonstrating that you can use them to mess a bit with the Autocalc box display. Scientific notation is useless to me, I don’t use it and can’t think in it.

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Hmm. Being an accountant, I no longer think in Scientific Notation either. Think of a number and multiply it by whatever the Boss wants is as scientific as I get these days. Then round it as much as is needed to fit all the other made up numbers. Fudge Factor, Cushion, Buffer, Exchange Rate Differences…… Enron here I come!

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Go Select Style from the Format menu. Make sure that the Normal style is selected in the Style Name drop down list. If the name next to Number in the Style Includes section is not “General”, then click on the Modify button and select the General style. The sum should now be in scientific notation for large sums.

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Thanks Legare – that gets rid of the notation for low numbers in cells that I was whingeing about but doesn’t change the autocalc box to scientific for large numbers. I’ll play with this some more tomorrow and see what (if anything) I come up with.

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It does on my XL2K.

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Well what do you know. Works just as you say it should now. As I said to John, I need to play with styles a bit more!

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I don’t think you’ll find them hiring, unless you are a forensic accountant!

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If you’re feeling adventurous, you can change all your “default” Windows fonts for Win2K with the registry key at HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionFontSubstitutesMS Shell Dlg and MS Shell Dlg 2. The defaults are MS San Serif and Tahoma – respectively. Something like Amerigo BT will shrink that down a bit. As you realise, this will affect all your Windows dialogues – except where the Font is hard-coded (e.g. Outlook).
(While you’re feeling creative, you might have a look at this. )
HTH

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No, I’m not feeling adventurous enough to mess with the registry.

I was going to see your Doonesbury and raise you a Dilbert, but I’ve lost the one I wanted to play. Must have shredded it.

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