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extend the per cell character restriction in MS Excel

5K views 3 replies 2 participants last post by  Zack Barresse 
#1 ·
Currently MS Excel 2007 has a restriction on it that only allows 255 characters to be entered into one cell. You can actually enter more for just storage, but they won't show up in the cell once you click off of it and you can't expand the cell large enough to make it fit any more of them.....it just cuts it off at 255. Try entering large bodies of text into a single excel cell and you'll see what I mean.

Is there a way to extend or lift this restriction? We are trying to create a reporting form in excel and when people enter long descriptions in the form cell, it runs out of space.

Thanks,
John
 
#2 ·
Hi there John, welcome to the board!

Why Excel? If it's a reporting form, or a form of any kind, why not use Word? I hate to say it, sometimes can't believe I say it, but maybe you should think about not using Excel.

Also take a look here: http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/showthread.php?t=82691

HTH
 
#3 ·
I actually have been asked to make the form MS Word and questions of how to make word tables hold the same functionality as excel are in another post of mine. However, I already made it in excel, I just can't get around one problem......which is the limit on the amount of text you can enter into one cell. Actually, in my form it is more limited by row height than actual characters. So, maybe I should be asking you about how to get around the problem of row height limitations.

Also, I read the forums at the link you gave me. They were insightful, but a little over my head.

I've attached the form that I'm working with. F28 is the cell that I want to remove the limitations from so it can hold more text. Note that there is a blank form and an example one.

Any more ideas are greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
John
 

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#4 ·
Excel isn't made for what you're trying to do. You'd be much better off just creating it in Word. Shouldn't take too much more to do what you've done thus far. Make good use of form fields to help you. We can help you with that as well if you'd like.

Have you ever thought of using InfoPath? You just need it to make the form, and to view you can use just a standard web browser (http://www.sharepointblogs.com/marwantarek/archive/2008/02/25/infopath-form-viewer-webpart.aspx).

HTH
 
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