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  • #2210566

    Excel 2010 copying

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    by dhays ·

    In Excel 2003 there was no problem to copy a cell from one point in a speadsheet to another, it copied exactly what was in the first cell. I recenly upgraded to Excel 2010, now when I try to copy eg. a date expressed ‘9/6/2011 it will either copy it as a number (40792 for ‘9/6/11 or it will drop the appostrophe, I rarely can copy it as is, even from one sheet to another it will not copy exactly as shown in the first. If two sets of cells are copied from one WS to another in the same WB, it will copy the first date as the number and the second as a date. Format of the cells is text, date, date, date (added later) text, text, text. Data originated in an Outlook task. I can copy a row from one place to another and the date will be reformatted. I also tried to copy a worksheet from one workbook to another, and again in E2003 no problem, it just added a new WS, in E2010, it says they aren’t the same size and won’t copy, when in fact, they are identical except for the data having changed. I had to select the whole sheet and copy and paste and then change the WS name.
    Why does MS like to mess things up when they make new versions? In Word 95, one could change table cell widths without changing the whole column, but in 2003, one cannot, in 2007, 2010, I am not sure.

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    • #2891503

      Clarifications

      by dhays ·

      In reply to Excel 2010 copying

      Clarifications

    • #2888773

      That number you see is the date

      by spitfire_sysop ·

      In reply to Excel 2010 copying

      Excel stores dates as a number from an arbitrary point in history (I think it’s 1970 or something strange like this)

      You can make that date number display in the format that you are used to by changing the cell number format to “date”.

      You are correct in thinking that this cell format should be copied with the cell data but I think it has to do with format preservation. Just make sure your new sheet has the format you want before entering all the data.

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