XL98: Text Property Is Limited to 255 Characters

• Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SYMPTOMS

In Visual Basic for Applications macros in Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, when you use the Text property to read text from a cell, not all of the text contained in the object is returned.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs if you use the Text property to read text from a cell that contains more than 255 characters; the Text property can read only 255 characters from a cell.

WORKAROUND

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For example, if you want to read the text from cell A1, when cell A1 contains more than 255 characters, follow these steps:

1. Enter the following Visual Basic for Applications code into a module sheet:

         Sub Read_Text()
   
             MyVar = Range("A1").Value
             MsgBox MyVar
   
         End Sub
   
   

2. Run the Read_Text macro.

STATUS

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition.

MORE INFORMATION

You can use the Text property in Microsoft Excel to read text from cells:

   MyVar = Range("A1").Text

However, Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition allows up to 32,767 characters per cell. Because of this, the Text property may not work as expected when you use it to read a cell that contains more than 255 characters.