Excel '04 Problems

[SDMacGuy]

My upgrade to Leopard went well, but I've recently encountered problems with Excel '04.

I have a multi-sheet file that freezes after copying various formulas. The symptoms are that it sticks at "calculating X%" (typically 15% or so) and the CPU usage go to the high 80-90% range according to Activity Monitor.

I've gone through the steps of restarting, removing prefs file (with and without restarting) and fixed permissions, all to no avail.

Am I the only one to encounter this issue? Any fixes or suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Doctor Q]

Do you have freezing-while-calculating problems with all spreadsheets or with only this one?

You might change the Preference setting for Calculation so it's not automatic, to see if that stops the freezing. Do this in Excel before opening the file in question.

I wonder if there might be a circularity or odd dependence in the spreadsheet that is actually a mistake but hasn't shown up until now. If that's the case, and there's a particular bad cell, row, or column, then you might find it as follows:

1. Make a new copy of the spreadsheet, and do experiments on it as follows.
2. Delete half of the rows or half of the column to see if the problem remains.
3. Start over and delete the other half to see if the problem remains.
4. Continuing refining what you keep vs. what you delete until you identify exactly which cell, row, or column is the trigger for the problem.
5. Look for something unusual in its formulas.

 

[SDMacGuy]

Thanks. I did attempt several variations on your suggestions, including some of them before posting my problem. Even down to a single worksheet and the problem remains. An older version that had not been opened for a couple months (prior to the Leopard upgrade) and it shows the same problems.

All of this started after the upgrade to Leopard... the first time I've ever had an upgrade related issue.

Any other ideas? Thanks, again.

 

[SandySRT]

Another weird Excel problem

I too, just recently upgraded to Leopard, and it was painless and simple. However, I just noted an odd occurrence on some existing spreadsheets.

When I type in a whole number, it immediately displays it as a decimal. For example "2" is shown as ".02"

I have done nothing recently to change my formatting, and even when I try to change it, I always get this result.

Any ideas...these spreadsheets were perfect, up until the Leopard upgrade.

 

[Doctor Q]

When I type in a whole number, it immediately displays it as a decimal. For example "2" is shown as ".02"

I've heard of .02 being shown as 2, because it's a percentage field, but I can't explain what you are seeing. I wonder what type of change in Leopard could cause this.

Maybe the problem would go away if you Save As the spreadsheet in some other format, and then open it and Save As back to the latest format.

Of course, Microsoft would probably prefer another solution: taking advantage of their Super Suite Deal.