Excel: Lotus 1-2-3 ISNUMBER Function Changes to ISNONTEXT

 Last reviewed: September 12, 1996
Article ID: Q95195
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 2.x, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0

SUMMARY

When you open a Lotus 1-2-3 worksheet in Microsoft Excel, the Lotus 1-2-3 ISNUMBER function will change to ISNONTEXT().

When you save a Microsoft Excel document in Lotus 1-2-3 format, both the ISNUMBER and the ISNONTEXT() functions will be changed to ISNUMBER.

MORE INFORMATION

This behavior occurs because the Lotus 1-2-3 ISNUMBER function is different from the Microsoft Excel ISNUMBER() function--the Microsoft Excel ISNONTEXT() function is equivalent to the Lotus 1-2-3 ISNUMBER function.

The Lotus ISNUMBER function will return TRUE if the argument in that function is a value, an error, or is blank. This function will only return FALSE if the argument is text or a label. This behavior is equivalent to the behavior of the Microsoft Excel ISNONTEXT() function.

The Microsoft Excel ISNUMBER() function will only return true if the argument is a number. If the number is an error or blank the function will return FALSE. There is no equivalent for this function in Lotus 1-2-3.

If you save a Microsoft Excel sheet containing the ISNUMBER() function in WKS format, the following error message will appear 

   Cannot write record (Cell: <cell reference>)
where <cell reference> is the cell containing the ISNUMBER() function. This error message indicates that Microsoft Excel cannot find a Lotus equivalent for ISNUMBER(). In this case the function will be saved as the value 0 or 1.

If the Microsoft Excel sheet is saved in WK1 or WK3 format, both ISNUMBER() and ISNONTEXT() will change to ISNUMBER.

REFERENCES

"User's Guide," version 5.0, chapter 3 "Lotus 1-2-3 for Windows User's Guide," version 1.0, page 103 "Microsoft Excel Function Reference," version 4.0, page 248

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Additional reference words: 4.0 4.00 4.0a 4.00a 5.0 5.00



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Last reviewed: September 12, 1996
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