Excel available resources - excel

So in the last week Excel (2010) has started coming up with this error message when I select the entire file using the arrow in the top left hand corner of the sheet: "Excel cannot complete this task with available resources. Choose less data or close other applications."
But if I just select the columns it will sort. it's only when using the select all button in the top left corner.
None of my memory usage seems outrageous on my machine. I have closed all other programs and just used excel, but no dice.
Any bright ideas?

Is the formatting on everything uniform or at least somewhat uniform? Sometimes if i have different elements in bold or with a solid background etc that gives me issues from time to time...

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Excel Pivot Table Field headers are too large

I'm working in excel doing pivot tables and the field list is too large. It is hard to see what headings are in 'rows' here for example. I've tried zooming out and in to no avail and connecting it to a larger monitor but it doesn't help.
I have also tried changing to display settings from 'optimize for best appearance' to 'optimize for compatibility' but nothing changes.
Any help would be great,
Thanks
This is the image of the excel field list I am having trouble with
I end up with the same sort of issue if my Excel window is only using a portion of the vertical space on the monitor. If this is the case, maximizing the window should solve the issue.
If you are already maximized, try hitting the gear icon and changing the layout to Area Section Only (2 by 2).
Yes, I had this problem too. It's very annoying, and took me a long time to find a solution. It's an easy fix! Near the bottom, right-hand corner of your MS Excel window, select "Display Settings." Then Select the radio-button "Optimize for compatibility." You will then be asked to close MS Office applications and re-start the application. It worked for me! Good luck.

Why are Excel's camera tool and paste as picture cropping and resizing?

When I copy and paste as values or use the camera tool (essential for dashboards, VBA driven reports, etc.), the pasted/camera snapped image doesn't line up with the chosen columns.
I've got the answer to this (see below), but this stumped me for some time.
The issue here happens (and is fixed by) the native content resizing of windows. If "Change the size of text, apps and other items" isn't 100% (e.g. 125%), and especially if it flags in red that you need to log out and back in for applications to pick up the change, excel and many other products will handle screen shots very weirdly.
So this isn't a solution in excel. That's what stumped me, and buggered up (technical term) a number of my dashboards. FYI!

Change format of all data labels of a single series at once

I have an Excel 2010 chart, with several series. I have added data labels to one of the series. I want to change the font size of all labels of that series at once. Can it be done?
Note that if the contents of data labels are combinations of the three standard options in the Format Data Labels dialog ("Series Name", "X Value", or "Y Value"), I simply change the font size in the ribbon and it works.
But if data labels contain cell references (i.e., formulas), I could only change the font size of one label at a time.
I guess a macro would help. I tried something a while ago, and faced a sequence of problems (do not remember exactly which).
Anyone knows of a shorter/alternative solution?
It appears I found the cause.
Referring to the figure, whenever any of the cells referred to by the data labels is empty (e.g., deleting the contents of D4), I cannot change the font size.
If I reinstate D4, I can change the font size again. This is reproducible for the simple worksheet/chart of the figure.
According to this,
Workaround 1: Fill up all empty cells referred to. Change the format of labels. Remove added contents.
Workaround 2: Change to a dummy range for the data labels, which has no empty cells. Change the format of labels. Switch back to your intended range.
This might require The XY Chart Labeler, an excellent add-in by Rob Bovey.
This does not always work (there are cases where one cannot change font even with all non-empty cells), so there should be another possible cause for the problem (besides the one reported).
A workaround:
For the workbook, Save As... (you can even use the same workbook name). The problem goes away.
But if you close the file and open it again, the problem reappears.
Most of the times it works.
A workaround (found prior to #1):
A very poor solution, but which possibly saves quite a few keystrokes/mouse clicks in many cases. Select the whole chart, and change the font size in the ribbon. It will change all text. Then recover the font size of all other text but the data labels.
It won't work in charts with more than one series with such data labels, if you want them to have different sizes!
A quick way to solve this is to:
Go to the chart and left mouse click on the 'data series' you want to edit.
Click anywhere in formula bar above. Don't change anything.
Click the 'tick icon' just to the left of the formula bar.
Go straight back to the same data series and right mouse click, and choose add data labels
This has worked in Excel 2016. Purely by luck I worked this out saving a great deal of time and frustration.

Bug with Excel form control - scrollbar keeps scrolling

I'm creating a dynamic chart using an Excel form control -- the scrollbar -- and the way this works is exactly as described on http://www.excelcharts.com/blog/animation-interaction-and-dynamic-excel-charts/ (towards the bottom). I have a chart of data, and a column called "Chart source" that just does an index match based on the scrollbar's linked number. When you click through the scrollbar, it updates the chart source column and thus the chart.
The problem I'm having is that when I click the scrollbar, it keeps scrolling all the way, to either the left or the right, instead of moving incrementally one by one. The number counts through 1 by 1, but it goes all the way as if I were continuously clicking the button. This behavior stops in its tracks if I click and then move the mouse out of the arrow area. I've tried messing with the form control's "incremental change" and "page change" options to no avail. Things that do work: I can click and drag the scrollbar itself to the place I want it. I can type a new number in the cell linked to the scrollbar, and the scrollbar will jump to the right position.
Does anyone have an idea of how to fix this bug?
EDIT: I figured out the problem. This is a bug in Excel. If you are in "Page Break Preview" mode instead of "Normal" mode, this behavior will happen. Switching back to "Normal" mode (the first of the three icons in the bottom right next to the zoom) fixes this behavior.
This problem occurs when calculations that result from the changed value that is controlled by the scroll bar, takes too long. Changing to Manual calculation mode resolves the problem (although of course is not necessarily desirable in all cases)...
(see http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/slider-bar-continues-increment-mouse-hovers-over-arrow-t3064239.html)
The same has been happening to me, but my excel sheet was in "normal" mode.I believe the original answer is correct. I noticed this happens when I press a combination of keys or my hand lightly brushes across bottom pf laptop. Very annoying. Finally I sit and wait for the scrolling to stop then click back to top of sheet.
Possible answer... I have the problem with one type of worksheet, but only when another worksheet with VBA code is open. A fix might be, in the first worksheet:
File\Options\Advanced\Formulas\un-check Enable Multi-Threaded Calculation
I figured out the problem. This is a bug in Excel. If you are in "Page Break Preview" mode instead of "Normal" mode, this behavior will happen. Switching back to "Normal" mode (the first of the three icons in the bottom right next to the zoom)

Can I make Excel scroll smoothly without using middle-click?

I must work with nightmare Excel files. (I didn't create them, I just have to work with them).
They were so big (more than 50 big columns and 100 big rows) then I must scroll up/down and use "<" and ">" buttons to scroll left and right. When I scroll around, Excel always jumps to the next column or row. This make me crazy!
Can I develop a plugin or add-in to make Excel just scroll smoothly, like web browsers do? If so, please give me some resource or just some keyword to learn how to do it.
Another tip: when you click on Scroll lock on your keyboard, this will change the way your arrows keys will work.
Instead of moving from cell to cell, it will move the screen.
Yet, as Issun said, you cannot change Excel and AFAIK, you cannot "split" a cell when scrolling.
Furthermore, you can also change the number of rows that will scroll in the Windows Control Panel.
I'm sorry to tell you but the snapping to the top of a cell when you scroll is a design choice by Microsoft that you simply cannot get around while working within Excel. You can middle click your mouse to enable smooth preview zoom with the mouse, but once you click the program, it will snap back.
Instead of looking for a plug-in, you should look for a different program to run the .xls files to work on them. Perhaps even something as simple as opening the document in Google docs might allow you to scroll normally.
That being said, if you are having the problem of the cells being so big that when you scroll down it skips over some cells, assign either a command button or keyboard shortcut to this macro:
Sub DownOne()
ActiveWindow.SmallScroll Down:=1
End Sub
I have used this on several occasions due to Excel skipping cells because of their size. The reason is that the mouse "single scroll down" is by default set to Down:=3
You might be able to map this macro to a mouse wheel scroll event, but I believe you need to add a .dll to use that event (ref: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/837910)
Click down on scroll wheel (middle) of mouse (remember not turn, but click down). This will produce unique four way arrow. Now drag mouse up or down (or even sideways, left or right) and you will get slow smooth scroll.
Well, this is an extremely old thread, but I was having the same problem today.
Try going into your Mouse Settings in Control Panel and set your Wheel to Scroll 1 line at at a time.. I have some rows that are merged, and it was frustrating the hell out of me how quickly it would scroll past them. Turns out, I had my Wheel set to scroll 3 lines at a time (default I think).
Took me forever to figure it out (felt like an idiot once I did).
Note - You'll want to go back and set it back to 3 lines when you're done in Excel because it makes it painfully slow to scroll in your web browser.
Old thread I know, but I found a work around (if this is a repeat suggestion, sorry). Leave Column A alone, with "normal" sized cells. You can hide this column if you don't want to see it. Put all your contents in the remaining columns as you normally would and merge the content over several rows. Since column A is normal sized, you will get "smooth scrolling".
I had the same problem until I upgraded by office from 2014 to 2017. Now I have office 2017 [version 15.33 (170409)] and I can scroll by pixels using Mouse as well as Laptop trackpad. I am using MacOS Sierra version 10 operating system.

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