Cannot shift objects off sheet (Excel 2000)

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I am trying to hide some columns on a spreadsheet and I keep getting the error message “Cannot shift objects off sheet”. I don’t want to shift them off the sheet, I simply want to hide the columns to make the sheet more readable. Any idea what is causing this message and what I can do to prevent it?
Sheet runs from columns E to AX. I’m trying to hide columns in the middle of the sheet (N-T).

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See if Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 211769 helps (thanks to sdckapr for digging up this article two weeks ago.)

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Well – it seems to work, but very inconsistantly. I have removed all comments from the sheet. Lets say I want to hide columns N-U. If I select them all I still get the error message. If I start hiding individual columns, starting at N I can get as far as S before I get the error. Starting at the other end, I can again hide 5 columns U,T,S,R,Q, but on the 6th one (P this time) I get the error again. If I select a block of columns to hide I can only hide 4 together before I get the error.

This is too weird!

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Could you post a small workbook in which the problem occurs (just one worksheet, remove data as much as possible without removing the problem, delete or modify sensitive data)? That would enable Loungers to investigate the problem.

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Problem Solved! Finally discovered some hidden columns off to the right on the sheet (It stopped at BN and I couldn’t work out how to unhide the rest – but now I have – “Format/Columns/Unhide”) Guess what? there was some additional data with comments. Deleted that and all is now working as expected.

Question is? Will Micro$oft fix the Excel bug in later versions? How do you force Excel to insert comments that can scale and move with the cells?

Thanks for the help.

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I can reproduce this error message if I have a picture object inserted and try to hide all columns. I guess that you have some kind of object inserted in the sheet and are forcing it to anchor so far to the left or the bottom of the sheet that it’s “running out of room”. Do you have an object such as a picture or OLE object embedded? See if you can find the object through Edit, Goto, Special Objects.

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