Microsoft KB Archive/289816

= MSN Financial Symbols smart tag does not recognize some ticker symbols =

Article ID: 289816

Article Last Modified on 9/6/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Office Excel 2007
 * Microsoft Office Excel 2003
 * Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q289816



SYMPTOMS
If you enable the MSN MoneyCentral Financial Symbols smart tag in Microsoft Excel, and then type a stock ticker symbol, the smart tag does not recognize the symbol.



CAUSE
This behavior may occur when any of the following conditions is true:
 * The stock symbol that you typed was not in uppercase (all CAPITAL letters).
 * The stock symbol that you typed is not the only text in the cell.
 * The stock symbol that you typed is only one or two characters long.
 * The stock symbol that you typed was recently added to the stock exchange.



MORE INFORMATION
The MSN MoneyCentral Financial Symbols smart tag only recognizes stock symbols that are typed in all capital letters. For example, MSFT is recognized, but Msft is not.

Smart tags in Excel evaluate the entire contents of the cell as a single text string. This means that if you want a stock symbol to be recognized, it must be the only text entered in the cell. For example, if you type Today's quote for MSFT in a cell, the stock symbol is not recognized.

If the stock symbol that you need to recognize is fewer than two characters, you must type the prefix US: in order for the smart tag to recognize it. For example, the smart tag recognizes US:F as the Ford Motor Company stock symbol.

The stock symbols that are recognized are stored in a .dat file on the local hard disk. Excel automatically checks the Web for updates to this file each time you invoke one of the actions on the smart tag menu for MSN MoneyCentral Financial Symbols. Microsoft is no longer updating this file regularly. Therefore, newer stock symbols may not be recognized.

Additional query words: XL2002 XL2003 XL2007

Keywords: kbprb KB289816

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