Vicki: Sounds like the column that shows the "spill over" is formatted as text. Text automatically spills over to the next column, as long as there is nothing in it. If the column is formatted as anything other than text, then you get the "####" for numeric values that are too wide for the column.
Short story: If you want to keep the numbers as numbers (meaning you want to use them in other formulas and such), then you'll need to widen the column.
-Allen
Loading
ExcelTips (Ribbon Interface)
Members
This Site
Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.
Author Bio
With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company.
Learn more about Allen...
Helpful Links
ExcelTips FAQ
Ask an Excel Question
Make a Comment
Free Business Forms
Free Calendars
Subscribe
Hash Marks Displayed Instead of Cell Contents
Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Hash Marks Displayed Instead of Cell Contents.
Bob is having some problems getting Excel to display the text within a cell. What is happening is that Excel is displaying a series of # signs instead of the text. He notes that he is not even close to the character limit of the cell.
The answer here depends on what you mean by "the character limit of the cell." Generally, such a statement means that you haven't reached the limit of the text that Excel can store in the cell—approximately 32,000 characters. It is important to keep in mind that what Excel can store and what it can display are two different things, as will shortly be discussed. If, however, by "character limit" you mean that the cell is wider than what is stored in the cell, that is a separate issue.
First things first: Excel can store about 32,000 text characters in a cell, but it can only display up to 255 characters if the cell is formatted as text. If the cell contains more than 255 characters and the cell is formatted as text, then the hash marks are displayed. The solution is to change the format of the cell to general; then the text will display as you expect.
The more common occurrence is to see hash marks displayed when the cell contains a numeric (or date) value. If the cell is too narrow to display the value, then the hash marks are shown. They indicate that an "overflow" condition has occurred and that your value cannot be displayed as you want.
This is particularly common when displaying dates using a format that requires more horizontal space. For instance, if you display a date as "August 22, 2013," that date takes more column width to display than does "8/13/10." The solution is to simply widen the column so that the display doesn't overflow the width.
Dates will also display hash marks if you attempt to display a date value outside the range of dates that Excel can handle (1/1/1900 through 12/31/9999).
You should also note that you might see hash marks appear if you change the size of the font used in a cell. Change the font to a larger size, and Excel may not be able to display the value horizontally. If you can't widen the column then consider making the font smaller so that Excel can make the full value visible.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (8444) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Hash Marks Displayed Instead of Cell Contents.
Related Tips:
Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!
Comments for this tip:
awyatt 17 Nov 2014, 17:50
Vicki 17 Nov 2014, 17:25
Hi, can you help me with this problem?
I have a column formatted not to wrap.
I previously entered 12-digit numbers in the cells, which exceed the width of the column.
Those numbers show, bleeding as they should into the next (empty) column.
Now, when I put the same type of numbers in other cells in the same column, hash ### signs are shown.
I have tried copy/pasting the formatting from the cells which show correctly. That does not fix it.
I have tried copy/pasting the entire contents of the cell which shows correctly. It displays correctly in the target cell - until edited, then the hash ### signs reappear.
This is driving me completely nuts. Is there some code just telling excel NEVER to put # in? Who wants the stupid things!
At least, can you please provide a specific solution as to how to show these numbers? Without widening the column? I have a lot of columns and if I widen them I cannot see what I need to see in the spreadsheet
I have a column formatted not to wrap.
I previously entered 12-digit numbers in the cells, which exceed the width of the column.
Those numbers show, bleeding as they should into the next (empty) column.
Now, when I put the same type of numbers in other cells in the same column, hash ### signs are shown.
I have tried copy/pasting the formatting from the cells which show correctly. That does not fix it.
I have tried copy/pasting the entire contents of the cell which shows correctly. It displays correctly in the target cell - until edited, then the hash ### signs reappear.
This is driving me completely nuts. Is there some code just telling excel NEVER to put # in? Who wants the stupid things!
At least, can you please provide a specific solution as to how to show these numbers? Without widening the column? I have a lot of columns and if I widen them I cannot see what I need to see in the spreadsheet
Barry Kruse 30 Aug 2014, 15:43
Another thing that sometimes causes this is if the cell has been indented. This is hard to see in a numeric cell because it's right-justified, but it's easy enough to check in the format dialog box.
BjM 29 Aug 2014, 17:25
If ###### prints in the cell instead of the displayed value in the app, change your print drivers from PCL to PS.
IS 12 Aug 2014, 09:02
I am using Excel 2010. I have a cell that contains only text with just over 300 characters. It had been displaying fine at around 250 characters, but after adding around 60 characters it now displays all #s across the cell.
This is true even when I change the format to "General," the supposed 'fix' I keep seeing everywhere for this problem.
Please help.
This is true even when I change the format to "General," the supposed 'fix' I keep seeing everywhere for this problem.
Please help.
Nosiku 03 Jun 2014, 10:27
on the general formats for dates and time the date appears as a series of hash totals
Abd 21 Apr 2014, 23:32
Thank you very much. I was very fraustrated. Not even MS employees were able to help me. I had lots of dates on my excel file, but if I zoomed out to see more content a page then I would see # # # # marks. Once I zoomed in, then the contents would show. This article was very helpful. All I did was to increase the width of the cells and everything seems to normal. Again, thank you very much.
Gary 22 Oct 2013, 21:02
In my case everything displays fine in Excel and print preview, but when it actually prints out it's all just ### in half the cells. Any fix for this?