The value may be entered incorrectly for example, double-quotation marks may be missing around the value. VALUE (519): The value for one of the arguments is not the type that the argument requires. REF (525): The column, row, or sheet for the referenced cell is missing. NAME? (525): No valid reference exists for the argument. You can find detailed explanations of them by opening help and searching for 'Error codes in Calc.' A few of the most common are: All the same, they are valuable clues to correcting mistakes. Most error messages indicate a problem with how the formula was input, although several indicate that you have run up against a limitation of either Calc or its current settings.Įrror messages are not user-friendly, and may intimidate new users.

The error number appears in the cell, and a brief explanation of the error on the right side of the status bar. An error message for a formula is usually a three-digit number from 501 to 527, or sometimes an unhelpful piece of text such as NAME?, REF, or VALUE.

Error messages display in a formula's cell or - even more conveniently - in the Function Autopilot instead of the result. For these reasons, Calc provides three tools for investigating formulas and the cells that they reference. At times, too, you may want to find the cells used in a formula to change their values or to check the answer. Many typists find inputting numbers difficult, and many users may make a mistake about the kind of entry that a function's argument needs. Reviewing the Contents and Results of FormulasĮven with all the tools available in Calc to help you to enter formulas, making mistakes is easy. However, you can still see the formula in the formula bar field. Unselect the check box beside it, and the result will display. If you are typing in the cell, as soon as you type an operator, such as an equal sign or less than sign ( Options -> Calc -> View -> Display. The quickest way to enter a function formula is to start typing, either in the cell itself, or at the input line. You can enter function formulas in several ways. Now, in part 2, I'll continue by explaining how you enter formulas (or formulae, if you prefer), and how you can check and review them afterwards. In part 1 of this article, I gave an overview of functions and what they do. They're one of the two or three major applications that first spearheaded the acceptance of the personal computer in the 1980s, and the main tools of advanced spreadsheet use. A formula is a spreadsheet function entered in a cell, complete with its arguments.

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