Issue 126681

Summary:	formula entry in text-formatted cell leads to unnecessary syntax warning pop-up
Product:	Calc	Reporter:	Joe Smith <jes>
Component:	ui	Assignee:	AOO issues mailing list <issues>
Status:	CONFIRMED ---	QA Contact:
Severity:	Normal
Priority:	P5 (lowest)	CC:	rb.henschel
Version:	4.1.1
Target Milestone:	---
Hardware:	All
OS:	All
Issue Type:	DEFECT	Latest Confirmation in:	---
Developer Difficulty:	---

Description Joe Smith 2015-11-23 15:54:20 UTC

Comment 1 Joe Smith 2015-11-23 16:15:47 UTC

Oops, hit Enter too soon.Here's the description:

Formatting a cell as text should accept any subsequent entry as literal text.

This fails if the user makes an entry starting with = or + but which is not a valid formula. In this case, Calc pops up a formula syntax/correction dialog window.

The syntax warning/correction prompt is unnecessary and confusing and should not be triggered in this situation.

Steps to reproduce:

1) File > New > Spreadsheet ...
2) Select column A
3) Format > Cells > Numbers > Category: Text, OK
4) Enter in A1: =/2015

A warning dialog window appears, offering to correct the input to =2015

Confirming leads to entry =2015 (as text, not formula)

Dismissing leads to entry =/2015 (as text, not formula)

This dialog is not correct and should not appear at all for such text entries. The entry is not a formula, and should not be changed or corrected. The dialog is confusing and disrupts data entry.

One workaround: avoid using = as the first character, then use Edit > Find & Replace to fix the entries all at once.

Forum discussion: https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=80484

Comment 2 spamaway 2016-06-02 17:13:13 UTC

This exact problem is negatively affecting numerous users within my organization who have switched over from Excel (which does NOT popup a unwarranted error message) to Open Office. If cells have expressly been formated as text, it needlessly creates frustration and confusion to popup a validation error complaining that an entry isn't a valid formula. Of course it's not, it doesn't need to be... that's why the cell was formatted as text.

Clearly I'm not going to get all the users being impacted by this to individually come here and go through the account creation process just to vote on this issue. Therefore, I wanted to add this comment to make it clear this problem is affecting more people than might be surmised by simply looking at the vote total. Please fix this confirmed bug. Thank you.