'Ghost' data corrupting hyperlink - excel

I have a column of external hyperlink, the problem is the links don't work because some wrong data remained after a copy&paste.
as you can see here my cell only shows the hyperlink but when I hover it I can see the wrong data being used by excel.
Is there a way to clear these cells from this 'ghost' content and make excel use the cell's value as the hyperlink ?
Also is there a name for all this content being used but not shown ? Knowing this would help my google searches.
Thank you for your help.

Related

How do I fix cells in Excel that contain formulas, but are showing as empty cells?

I have tried to find this scenario somewhere but haven't been able to find any useful resources.
Essentially, I have performed some work in Excel and upon returning to the file the row sizes were so large the file could not used properly, and the cells were blank. The row sizes was an easy fix, however the blank cells are strange because they still contain text/formulae.
Has anyone seen this issue before, and know how to fix it?
Thanks!!!!
In this image, you can see that the selected sell contains some text
Here, if I double click to edit the cell contents, there seems to be some kind of disconnect between the location of the cell, and where Excel is allowing me to edit the text
I think you should start working with "formulatext()" Excel function: if you have a formula, this returns a full string
I've seen issues like this in the past and have always first tried the "Text to Columns" Data Tool on the Data Menu. I have used this when cells are unexpectedly blank, or when my dates are registering as dates or formulas are registering as formulas. It might help.

Downloading File with importrange function failing - think it's a bug

I've been saving Google Sheets to Excel without any problems for a while. These sheets have always successfully saved and opened in Excel with the importrange function. However, recently it hasn't been successfully saving correctly.
It used to just have the static value (e.g, 40). There used to be an IFERROR in the first cell in the header row but now it exists in every single cell.
E.g, each cell would have something like this:
=IFERROR(__xludf.DUMMYFUNCTION(importrange(blahblah)),"40").
DUMMYFUNCTION throws an error and "40" is returned as a result. but "40" is a string, not an integer which messes up all my formulas.
I also know this isn't an Excel issue because OpenOffice is doing the same thing with the file.
I'm pretty sure this would be a bug because why would it be working for months and then suddenly stop working?
What should I do?
I'm thinking it's a bug too.
Workarounds
On Excel
Copy and paste as values only the ranges with IFERROR(__xludf.DUMMYFUNCTION(..., then use Excel's UI tools to convert numbers shown as text to numbers.
Selectively remove quotes on the IFERROR second argument of the cells causing problems
Remove =IFERROR(__xludf.DUMMYFUNCTION(),"value") except value (we could use Excel's built-in FIND & REPLACE for this)
On Google Sheets
Use Copy > Paste as values only on the range areas having formulas with non-compatible functions like IMPORTRANGE, QUERY, FILTER, etc.
If you only need the values, download it as CSV instead of XLSX
IMPORTANT
In order to help to prioritize this issue, send feedback to Google. To do this open a Google Sheets spreadsheet, click on Help > Report a problem, then fill the feedback form and submit it.
Related stuff
I posted 5 small articles about this in Spanish. You could find them listed on https://www.rubenrivera.mx/p/descargar-hcg-excel.html.
We accidentally created a workaround for this bug with a different sheet that was just set up like this.
This works when you IMPORTRANGE into another Google Sheet. We are doing it into a Google Sheet with a single worksheet - haven't tried it with multiple.
It's going to sound a little nuts but it works for us.
In the first cell of your import range put a hyperlink in the original document you are importing from. This is in the first cell of the import range. We linked it to a worksheet in the original document. It has worked and failed with an external link. With an external link it worked when I linked it to an internal link, then changed it. But when I deleted the cell and just straight linked it to an external URL it didn't work.
Then #timbo was right - put data validation in. This can be in part of the document that isn't being imported into the second sheet. I put it in the first line of the import range but outside what I was importing. It might have to be the first line. I just put a date in one cell, then in the next cell data > data validation > then choose that one date as the data range.
For aesthetics I have hidden the first row in one Google Sheet I am importing into. In another I made the first cell link the title of the sheet and put the data validation outside the import range. Both of these work.
Let me know if this works for you.
Until this bug is fixed, a workaround is to put a data validation (Data > Data Validation) on the imported data (Any kind of data validation will do).

Excel - Inserting a pdf picture using a formula

I want excel to recall a certain PDF document and insert it into the worksheet if certain cells match the allocated PDF info.
I've tried using the object insert but it only gives me an un-editable formula which of course is:
=EMBED(" Forms.CommandButton.1")
Which does not work.
I then moved on to trying to nest IF & AND statements, but that doesn't get me very far, seeing that I don't know how, or whether it is possible to add a PDF document into that formula.
I've tried using hyperlinks but it seems that the hyperlinks are set and do not work with IF or AND statements.
Any suggestions or solutions are welcome.
Thanks!

Formula bar view changes when document is saved and reopened

I have an Excel 2007 document with a lot of formulas of the format:
SUMIFS(view1[COLUMN1],view1[COLUMN2],$C13,view1[COLUMN3],I$10)
but when I save the sheet and reopen it each formula is changed to the much less readable (but still accurate) format:
SUMIFS(data!$F$2:$F$65536,data!$B$2:$B$65536,$C13,data!$K$2:$K$65536,I$10)
The formulas all still work, I just want to keep the view as view1[COLUMN1] to make it more readable and to make edits easier.
How do I stop Excel from automatically changing how this shows up in the formula bar?
Suggestion might help on your situation.
Add a column header to your data and convert your data set to a table.
The benefit of using table is your formula will shows the column name instead of cell reference.
It should able to fix your problem.
You can check the below url for more details about Excel Table.
http://www.jkp-ads.com/Articles/Excel2007Tables.asp

How to crack an Excel workbook that looks up values?

Alright I know this isn't 100% related to programming (the Excel book in question doesn't use VBA at all) but I'm hoping someone can help me out with this or point me in the right direction.
My boss got a spreadsheet from a vendor that has a combobox/dropdown list with various part numbers; when you select one it populates the rest of the form with a lookup containing additional items. I've been tasked with "cracking" this and finding the list that they're using to populate so we can make use of it.
The thing is... there's no VBA code, no macros, no data connections, and only one Worksheet displayed in Excel while the lookup code references a Sheet1. I've tried to display hidden worksheets and it says there are none... so where on earth could this list be kept? My boss is getting impatient and is asking me if I've broken it yet. It's not a big deal if it can't be done, I just have no clue where to continue looking for it and I don't know what to tell my boss when he asks me if I'm done.
Can anyone help?
It's possible to hide a worksheet using VBA so that it can't be unhidden from the UI.
Try the method for un-hiding all hidden workhseets outlined here:
http://www.automateexcel.com/2004/12/14/excel_vba_unhide_all_worksheets/
My guess is that it is a Data Validation list which references a constant list of values or a range on a "Very Hidden" sheet. In Excel 2007, select one of the cells with the drop-down, click on the "Data" tab in the Ribbon, click on "Data Validation" in the Ribbon and see what you have. In Excel 2003 it is the Data -> Validation... command.
Another possibility if you know the name of the worksheet is "Sheet1" is to add a new worksheet, enter "=Sheet1!A1" into cell A1 of the new worksheet, and copy this cell down and to the right for as large of an area as you need to see the data you are interested in.
If you can post a URL to download the workbook (assuming it is not a trade secret) you would be more likely to get an accurate answer.
Could it be some data stored on the same sheet.
Possibly in columns which are either hidden, or which are far off the actual page?
Isn't this just data from the worksheet only?
Column header dropdown lists acts as filters, they show distinct values of a column.
This is a feature of Excel.
The items could be cached from a currently unavailable resource. Try saving it out to xml and searching for a known string.
Click on the cell that display a drop down list when selected
From the menubar select data>validation
In the dialog box copy the content of the source text box
Now paste the content on any empty cell on your worksheet
Select a drag it down to see the values populating the list
Chris
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Convert your Excel spreadsheet into an online calculator.
http://www.spreadsheetconverter.com
I am assuming that you have broken this by now, but just in case you havent. This is certainly a case of data validation using a named range which is house on another sheet that was designated "very Hidden" from the vba console. You will need to open up the VBA project of this worksheet and designated the "very Hidden" sheet to just Hidden and then you will be able to unhide it, or the other setting at which point it will be viewable.

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