MXL: Changing Currency Symbol in Numbers Control Panel

• Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 3.0, 4.0
• Apple Macintosh System Software versions 7.1, 7.5

SYMPTOMS

If you are using Microsoft Excel with System 7.1 or 7.5, and you modify the Currency Symbol in the Numbers control panel, you may experience the following problems:

• When you open a file in Microsoft Excel, you receive the following error message:

        File error: some number formats may have been lost
  

      -and-
  

• When you open a worksheet and attempt to change the number format, you receive the error message:

        Number Format is too long
  

  NOTE: This problem will not occur if you use the ";;;" custom number format or General.

  -and

• When you enter text into a cell, your computer hangs, and you must restart your computer.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs if you open the Numbers control panel, and you remove the value in the Currency Symbol box or you type a space in this box.

NOTE: This problem does not occur if you change the value in the Currency Symbol box to another character, such as the asterisk (*) character, or if you move the currency symbol to the right of the value instead of to the left. This problem only occurs if no value is displayed in the Symbol box under Currency in the Numbers control panel.

WORKAROUND

If you are using Microsoft Excel version 4.0 or earlier with System 7.1 or 7.5, do not change the Currency Symbol setting in the Numbers control panel.

Instead, to change the way numbers are formatted in your Microsoft Excel documents, edit or customize them directly in Microsoft Excel by using the Number Format dialog box.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was corrected in Microsoft Excel version 5.0 for the Macintosh.

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information about problems that you may encounter in Microsoft Excel when you modify settings in the Numbers control panel, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q128001
   TITLE     : MXL: "List and Decimal Separators Are Identical" Error