Microsoft KB Archive/31595

Number of Displayable Digits Is One Less than Cell Width PSS ID Number: Q31595 Article last modified on 01-09-1989 PSS database name: D_MPlan

2.x 3.x 4.00

MS-DOS

Summary: The number of digits that can be successfully displayed in a cell is one less than the width (in characters) of the cell. If the cell is formatted to be five characters wide, it can only display numbers made up of four or less digits when the number is entered with the Value command. For instance, the number “1234” can be displayed in a cell formatted to be five characters wide. However, the number “12345” cannot be displayed in a cell five characters wide. Instead, you will see #####, which is how Multiplan tells you to widen the cell. This mandatory space prevents problems that might arise from two adjacent numbers running into each other and being mistaken as one. This is not as much of a problem with text, and often, it is even desirable to have text from one column be immediately adjacent to the text in the next column. Therefore, text entered with the Alpha command can display the number of characters equal to the width of the cell (i.e., “abcde” will be visible in a cell formatted to be five characters wide).

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1989.