MS Excel is indeed a popular application for creating spreadsheets, keeping accounting data, and tracking day-to-day activities in organizations. But, while using Excel, many users often encounter some common errors. And it’s important to learn how to fix these errors. Otherwise you may face a lot of trouble in conducting your day-to-day activities. In this article, we’ll look at eight common errors of MS Excel and how users can resolve them.
- ##### Error
- #NUM Error
- #VALUE! Error
- #REF! Error
- #DIV/0! Error
- #Name! Error
- #NULL! Error
- Use a colon to separate the first cell from the last cell once you refer to a continuous range of cells in a formula.
- Also, you should use a comma when you refer to two cells that don’t intersect.
- #N/A Error
The first common error that users often encounter is a cell filled with hashtag characters. But, it is not an actual error; it simply means that column isn’t wide enough to display the value you’ve inputted.
Fixing this error is simple, just increase the column width so that the value can be displayed in the spreadsheet.
The NUM error occurs when an invalid number is added to the formula. If you have added the invalid number, you’ll find the NUM error on your spreadsheet. The same error can occur if the numeric value used is too small or large.
To fix this error, check if you’ve entered any formatted data like currency, dates, or special symbols in the formula. Remove any invalid characters from the formula and keep numbers only.
The #Value error is displayed in Excel when it finds any spaces, characters, or text in a formula where it expects a number.
The simplest way to fix this error is to check the formulas and assure that only numbers are used in it.
It is considered one of the most complicated error and can be tricky sometimes to figure out. The #REF error occurs in Excel when a formula references a cell that is invalid. For example, if the user removes a cell, column, or row in a spreadsheet, and create a formula with a cell name that has been deleted, Excel with display the #REF error in that cell.
To resolve this error, you must be careful while pasting a set of cells. Make sure there are no formulas that would get affected on deleting a cell. Also, if you’ve accidentally deleted a cell, click the undo button (Ctrl+Z) to recover them.
This error usually appears when users ask Excel to divide a formula by zero or an empty cell. As you all know, division by zero is not possible in the real world, then how would it be possible in Excel?
Resolving this error is pretty simple – you have to change the value of a cell to the value that is not equal to zero or add value if the cell is blank.
The #Name error is a bit complex than others. It appears when Excel is unable to understand the name of the formula you’re trying to run, or if excel cannot compute one or more values entered in the formula itself.
To resolve this error, check the spelling mistakes in the formula. Also, type the Excel functions in lower case because when you enter a formula, Excel will convert it to upper case automatically if it is identified.
This error occurs when Excel specify an intersection of two areas that don’t actually intersect, or when an incorrect range operator is utilized.
Resolving this error is a bit complicated, as you’ve to verify that you’re using the proper syntax in the formula.
The #N/A error usually appears when the number you are referring to your formula cannot be found. It can occur if you’ve deleted a number or row that is being utilized in the formula or if it is referring to a sheet that was deleted or not saved.
To fix this error, you’ve to check the entire formula carefully to find which sheets or rows were deleted or reference wrongly. If few formulas are linked together, verify that everything in every formula has value.
These are eight common errors that users often face while creating spreadsheets. However, there are some other errors also which can corrupt an excel file. Fixing these errors manual methods can be tricky, so use Excel Repair tool to automatically fix these errors.
Excel
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