XL98: Only 1,024 Characters Are Displayed in a Cell

Last reviewed: February 26, 1998
Article ID: Q180278
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, if a cell contains more than 1,024 characters, or if a cell contains a formula that returns a result of more than 1,024 characters, only the first 1,024 characters are displayed in the cell.

STATUS

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition.

MORE INFORMATION

A cell in Microsoft Excel 98 can contain up to 32,767 characters. However, if a cell contains more than 1,024 characters, the following rules apply:

  • Characters after the 1,024th character do not appear in the cell, but appear in the formula bar when you edit or select the cell.
  • Although characters after the 1,024th character do not appear, you can detect and manipulate them with worksheet functions (for example, the RIGHT and MID functions) and macro commands (for example the Characters property).
  • If you copy a cell that contains more than 1,024 characters, and then paste them into another cell, all of the characters are pasted into the new cell. However, characters after the 1,024th character do not appear in the destination cell.
  • Characters in a cell after the 1,024th character are not printed and do not appear in print preview.

Example

To see an example of this behavior follow these steps:

  1. In cell A1 of a new worksheet, type the following formula:

          =REPT("w",1024)&"xyz"
    

  2. With cell A1 selected, click Cells on the Format menu.

  3. Click the Alignment tab. Click to select the Wrap Text check box, and click OK.

  4. On the Format menu, point to Column, and click AutoFit Selection.

    Note that all you can see in cell A1 are "w" characters; the "xyz" characters at the end of the cell are not displayed.

  5. Type the following formulas in cell A2 and A3:

          A2: =RIGHT(A1,3)
          A3: =LEN(A1)
    

    The formula in cell A2 returns the result "xyz," the three rightmost characters in the cell. Cell A3 contains the number 1,027, the number of characters in cell A1.

  6. Change the formula in cell A1 to:

          =REPT("w",1023)&"xyz"
    

You can see 1,023 "w" characters, followed by an "x" character. The "yz" characters are not displayed because they exceed the 1024-character limit. The formula in cell A3 displays 1,026, the length of cell A1.


Additional query words: XL98 1025
Keywords : offmac xlformula xlui kbui kbfaq
Version : MACINTOSH:98
Platform : MACINTOSH
Issue type : kbprb


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Last reviewed: February 26, 1998
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