XL: Some List Elements Ignored When You Create Custom Lists

• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
• Microsoft Excel for Windows NT, version 5.0
• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a
• Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SUMMARY

When you import a custom list from a range of cells on a worksheet, you may receive the following message:

   Cells without simple text were ignored.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because the list contains a mixture of text and numbers. If the list contains all text or all numbers, the list is imported correctly.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, enter the numeric elements into the worksheet as text.

Note, however, that if you use this workaround, AutoFill will only be able to match your data with the custom list if the numbers in the data are entered as text.

NOTE: In Microsoft Excel, to enter a number as text, you must first type an apostrophe ('). You cannot use the Text number format to format numbers as text.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

Custom Lists are used with the AutoFill feature in Microsoft Excel. AutoFill is used to automatically enter data on a worksheet. If you frequently use lists or special series of data, you can create a custom list to be used with AutoFill.

REFERENCES

"User's Guide" version 5.0, Chapter 9, "Customizing AutoFill"

For more information about AutoFill, click the Search button in Help and type:

   autofill