Excel trying to help but failing (Sheet names / typo formulae suggestions)

[Will from London]

Hi

I have observed the following error occurring on multiple occasions. Has anyone else seen this?

To create the problem:
1. Name a sheet Y17M12 (I use that for December 2017 at my office).
2. On another sheet begin the following sumproduct & minus minus formula but ensure that you do not add a final close bracket: =SUMPRODUCT(—(Y17M12!B3:B4=1),Y17M12!C3:C4
3. Hit Enter

Then I receive the « We found a typo in your formula and tried to correct it to:» box and the suggestion is =SUMPRODUCT(—(YM1712!B3:B4=1),YM1712!C3:C4) which is not helpful because it has transposed the M and the 17 in the sheet name...and then doesn’t recognise the sheet correctly.

Is there something about the sheetname construction YyyMmm that Excel does not like?

Regards

Will

 

[Norie]

Will

It appears the double negative, --, in your formula has been changed to long dash —.

 

[Will from London]

Thanks for your reply but that is only on this website. In Excel it hasn’t (I’m typing this on an iPad). Excel is on a windows PC.

 

[steve the fish]

Cant say ive seen that before but it does it with all alphanumerics. If you have brackets around one of the arrays it will attempt to change the sheet name. Just press no and put in the bracket at the end.

 

[Will from London]

Thanks for your reply. I can deal with the issue but its more the instability that I dislike. The latest versions of Excel don’t seem as « well made » as it used to be...but maybe I’m just getting old and cynical...