Struggling with named cells...

DavidWilliams(Toronto) · Newbie Joined: 20 Mar 2007 Posts: 3

I thought I'd try what seemed like a trivial experiment with named cells. What am I doing wrong?

I have 2 cells - A1 & A2, both contain 1

If I insert the formula =SUM(A1,A2)
I get the answer 2

Now, if I define a name for A1 (insert->names->define), say fred
and enter insert a formula:
=SUM(fred,A2)
I get #NAME?

in fact, even if I try =SUM(A1,A2) again, I still get #NAME?

If instead I use =fred+A2, again I get 2

What's going on here. Is this a bug or am I missing something?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Sliderule · Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2007 1:03 pm Post subject:

DavidWilliams(Toronto):

The SUM function, must use ; ( semicolon ) to separate each parameter ( not a comma as in certain other spreadsheet products ).

Therefore, try this:

DavidWilliams(Toronto) · Newbie Joined: 20 Mar 2007 Posts: 3

Thanks, I guess I missed that little detail!

So, having got over that hurdle, I immediately his another snag when I tried to use a named cell as part of a range, for example:

=SUM(fred:A2)

gives the same error #NAME?

If I can solve this one, I think I'll be able to convert everything from Excel...

noranthon · Super User Joined: 07 Jul 2005 Posts: 3318

You cannot do that. You have to use cell addresses to define a range. You can give a name to a range.
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DavidWilliams(Toronto) · Newbie Joined: 20 Mar 2007 Posts: 3

OK, thanks a lot for the quick responses.

This seems like a pretty disappointing limitation on using cell names...