XL97: New Text Box Created When Text Box in Chart Linked to Cell

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel 97, when you link a text box that is contained in a chart to a cell in a worksheet, Excel may create a second text box in the chart.

CAUSE

This problem occurs when the following conditions are true:

• The text box is contained in a chart that is embedded in a worksheet.

      -and-
  

• You create the link from the text box to the worksheet cell as follows:

  1. While the text box is selected, you type an equal sign (=) in the

        formula bar.
  

  2. You click a cell in the worksheet, and then press ENTER.

WORKAROUND

To prevent this problem from occurring, do not link a text box to a worksheet cell by clicking the cell; instead, type the reference to the cell in the formula bar. To do this, follow these steps:

1. In an embedded chart, either select an existing text box, or create a new text box by clicking the Text Box tool on the Drawing toolbar and then drawing the text box in the chart.

2. In the formula bar, type an equal sign (=), followed by the name of the worksheet that contains the cell, an exclamation point (!), and the address of the cell you want to link the text box to. The formula bar should contain a formula similar to the following:

         =Sheet1!A1
   

   Note that if the name of the worksheet contains any spaces, you should enclose the worksheet name in apostrophes, for example:

         ='My Worksheet'!A1
   

3. Press ENTER.

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

In Excel, text boxes can either contain text or a link to a cell in a worksheet. To link a text box to a cell, select the text box, and then enter a formula in the formula bar that refers to the cell.