Why do formulas only work in half my cells?

[Malthus101]

Hey

So I have a simple sheet I use every week to keep track of trading records.

I have a template which I copy and then populate each week.

When I fill in the details from the top down as the week progresses, the cells with formulas in them are not auto-populating the calculation results. I have to drag down from the top cell to fill the cell with the answer below. Yet later on down the sheet, the cells start populating with the forumula answers by themselves.

I'd like them all to do it.

Why's this happening and how can I fix it in the template sheet?

Thanks!

 

[abdulads]

Thank you for reaching out! Believe in the calculation option is not automatic.

You can change from Manual to Automatic by selecting Formulas in the Menu bar and then calculation options.

Hope this works for you.

Regards,

Abdul.

 

[Malthus101]

I don't understand

some of the cells automatically calculate, some don't. I would expect them all to. thanks

 

[Peter_SSs]

the cells with formulas in them are not auto-populating the calculation results.

For those cells if it is not the formula result, what is showing in the cells before you drag down from the top?

 

[Malthus101]

For those cells if it is not the formula result, what is showing in the cells before you drag down from the top?

Hello

Well it's hard to say now as the previous weeks forms are all filled in and yes I had to drag the formula from the cell above to the cell below to make it work. Now looking back, everything is filled in as it should be!

For this weeks sheet, I have cleaned it up, and pre-dragged the formula down all the cells it will be needed in - is this really the only way to pre-load a column with a formula to auto calculate when the input cells are filled in as the week goes on?

Thanks.

 

[Peter_SSs]

Well it's hard to say now ..

.. consequently it is hard to now say what the problem might have been.

One possibility that strikes me is that the cells that were not calculating may have somehow been changed to be formatted as Text. Dragging a formula in another formatted cell (eg General or Number or Percentage etc) down would replace the Text formatting with whatever formatting the top formula cell is.

Check in your template what the formatting of the cells down the column is. If they are all in the correct format and contain your formula then when you use the template to create new sheets in the future all should be well.

 

[Malthus101]

But is it necessary for me to have to drag the formulas down like I have in that screenshot? They were auto-filling in previous sheets without it looking like that.

It just "knew" to copy the formula from above and reference the cells lower and lower as we moved down the sheet.

Thanks.

 

[Peter_SSs]

There are four circumstances that I can think of where formulas may "know" to copy down.

1. The formulas & data are in a formal Excel table. Insert ribbon tab -> Table.
   Create and format tables - Microsoft Support
   
   
2. In Excel Options (Advanced) you have "Extend data range formats and formulas" set and that has some qualifications.
   Advanced options - Microsoft Support.
   
   
3. The is vba in the workbook that executes the "copy formula down" when data is added to the worksheet.
   
   
4. The formulas are already copied down but Conditional Formatting "hides" them until data is entered beside them.

 

[Malthus101]

"The formulas are already copied down but Conditional Formatting "hides" them until data is entered beside them."

Ahh.. I have not manually set that, is it something that happens by default in Excel sometimes? thanks

 

[Peter_SSs]

is it something that happens by default in Excel sometimes?

No. But you could set that up in your template.