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Here’s the truth: Excel struggles are real.

As a marketer, it’s likely that you know these tiny conflicts all too well. From accidental deletes to misplaced numbers, one click can throw your spreadsheet all out of whack. And putting it back together once you’ve done the damage can be seriously frustrating — not to mention, time-consuming.

But you’re not alone: Even the most advanced Excel users experience these errors from time to time. For that reason, we’ve put together some tips designed to save you a few minutes (or hours) when solving frustrating Excel errors. Check them out below.

Best Practices That’ll Help You Reduce Excel Errors

Before we go over the errors and tips, we wanted to share a few helpful tricks we’ve learned from our own Excel experts. These precautionary lessons are designed to help you avoid errors altogether, making your life a whole lot easier:

• Begin every formula with an equal sign.
• Use the * symbol to multiply numbers, not an X.
• Match all opening and closing parentheses so that they are in pairs.
• Use quotation marks around text in formulas.

8 Excel Error Messages You’re Sick of Seeing (And How to Fix Them)

We’ve all fallen victim to the little green arrow in upper-left hand corner of a cell before. You know, that pesky little flag that Excel uses to indicate something has gone wrong with the values in the cell.

In many cases, clicking on that arrow will pull up enough information for you to remedy the problem at hand. Take a look:

But in other cases, you still can’t seem to figure out what’s gone wrong with your spreadsheet to solve this error. For those cases, we’ve provided the following list of common errors, explanations, and tips for overcoming them. Dig in for the context you need to right your wrongs and get back on the Excel saddle.

1. #VALUE!

Excel displays the #VALUE! error when it finds spaces, characters, or text in a formula where it is expecting a number.

Excel requires formulas to contain numbers only and won’t respond to formulas associated with numbers, so it will show you an error is if you’ve included anything else.

How to Resolve This Error:

An easy solution to this error is to double check your formula to make sure that you only used numbers. If you’re still seeing an error, check for blank cells, missing formulas linking to cells or any special characters you may be using.

In the example above, the “Sum” column is referring to empty cells. Excel can’t calculate the sum of empty columns, so it gives us an error.

2. #NAME?

This is a slightly more complex Excel error. Here’s a summary of why this might appear in a cell you’re working in:

No, Excel isn’t looking for your name in this case. The error, #NAME?, appears in a cell when Excel can’t read certain elements of a formula you’re trying to run.

For example, if you’re trying to conduct the =VLOOKUP formula, and you spell “VLOOKUP” wrong, Excel will return the #NAME? error after you input the values and press Enter. Check this error out below — as you can see, the cell is missing the “U” in “=VLOOKUP.”

You might also have spelled the formula correctly, but don’t have enough information entered in the formula’s individual entries. Check out how this error might look below — as you can see, the table array entry is incomplete. It needs an actual spreadsheet name to know where to look up our desired value.

How to Resolve This Error

To fix the #NAME? error in Excel, check the spelling of the formula you’re trying to run.

If the formula is spelled correctly, and your spreadsheet is still returning an error, Excel is probably getting confused over one of your entries inside the formula. An easy way to fix this is to have Excel insert the formula for you. Highlight the cell in which you want to run a formula, then click the “Formulas” tab in the top navigation. Select “Insert Function” (If you’re using Microsoft Excel 2017, this option will be on the far left of the Formulas navigation bar).

Once you select “Insert Function,” a Formula Builder will appear to the righthand side of your spreadsheet where you can select your desired formula. Excel will then walk you through each step of the formula in separate fields, as shown below, to ensure no errors are made and the program can read your cell correctly.

2. #####

When you see ##### displayed in your cell, it can look a little scary. The good news is that this simply means the column isn’t wide enough to display the value you’ve inputted. And that’s any easy fix.

How to Resolve This Error

Click on the right border of the column header and increase the column width.

Pro Tip: You can double-click the right border of the header to automatically fit the widest cell in that column.

3. #DIV/0!

When you see #DIV/0!, you are asking Excel to divide a formula by zero or an empty cell. In the same way that this task wouldn’t work if you were doing division by hand, or on a calculator, it won’t work in Excel either.

How to Resolve This Error

This error is pretty easy to resolve. Simply change the value of the cell to a value that is not equal to 0 or add in a value if your cell was blank. Here’s an example:

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In some cases, you might find that you’re simply waiting for input in a particular cell. Rather than including a “0” as a placeholder, and subsequently turning up a #DIV/0! error, you can add a custom display message. Learn more about your alternative options here.

4. #REF!

This one can sometimes be a little tricky to figure out, but Excel usually displays #REF! when a formula references a cell that is not valid. Here’s a summary of where this error typically comes from:

Now, what does this error really mean? That means you may have accidentally deleted or pasted over a cell that was used in your formula. For example, let’s say the “Outcome” column, below, references the formula: =SUM(A2,B2,C2).

If we were to accidentally delete the “Number 2” column, we’d see this error:

How to Resolve This Error

Before you paste over a set of cells, make sure there are no formulas that refer (hence, “REF”) to the cells you’re deleting. Also, when deleting cells, it’s important to double check what formulas are being referred in those cells.

Pro Tip: If you accidentally delete a few cells, you can click the Undo button on the Quick Access Toolbar (or press CTRL+Z for PC / Command + Z for Mac ) to restore them.

5. #NULL!

#NULL! errors occur when you specify an intersection of two areas that don’t actually intersect, or when an incorrect range operator is used.

To give you some additional context, here’s how Excel reference operators work:

• Range operator (semi colon): Defines a references to a range of cells.
• Union operator (comma): Combines two references into a single reference.
• Intersection operator (space): Returns a reference to the intersection of two ranges.

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How to Resolve This Error

First things first, check to make sure that you are using the correct syntax in your formula.

• You should be using a colon to separate the first cell from the last cell when you refer to a continuous range of cells in a formula.
• On the other hand, you should be using a comma should when you refer to two cells that don’t intersect.

6. #N/A

When you see #N/A, this typically means that the numbers you are referring to in your formula cannot be found.

You may have accidentally deleted a number or row that’s being used in your formula, or are referring to a sheet that was deleted or not saved.

For advanced users, one of the most common causes of the #N/A error is when a cell can’t be found from a formula referenced in a VLOOKUP. (Check out this post for more on VLOOKUPs.)

How to Resolve This Error

Triple check all your formulas and be sure to look closely at which sheets or rows may have been deleted or incorrectly referenced. If you have a few formulas linked together, check to see that everything in every formula has a value.

For advanced users using VLOOKUP functions, reference this guide.

7. #NUM!

If your formula contains numeric values that aren’t valid, you’ll see an #NUM! error appear in Excel. Often times this happens when you enter a numeric value that’s different than the other arguments used in your formula.

For example, when you’re entering an Excel formula, make sure you don’t include values like $1,000 in currency format. Instead, enter 1000 and then format the cell with currency and commas after the formula is calculated.

How to Resolve This Error

Check to see if you have entered any formatted currency, dates, or special symbols. Then, make sure to remove those characters from the formula, only keeping the numbers themselves.

Here’s how you can format numbers after removing the commas and currency from your formula:

(To adjust the currency, select the small triangle to the right of the icon to select an option from the dropdown menu.)

Want more Excel tips? Check out this post on simple Excel tips, tricks, and shortcuts.

 

Twitter announced today the selection of two proposals to study the health of its network.

The selection comes after a public request for proposals in March to study the network’s “health metrics,” which Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said was part of the company’s commitment to “increas[ing] the collective health, openness, and civility of public conversation.”

We’re committing Twitter to help increase the collective health, openness, and civility of public conversation, and to hold ourselves publicly accountable towards progress.

— jack (@jack)
March 1, 2018

On Friday, Twitter held its Q2 2018 earnings call, where it reported a drop in one million monthly active users — which was partially the result of its sweeping removal of accounts from its site.

That account removal was also part of the company’s larger efforts to improve user experience, by eliminating accounts belonging to trolls, spammers, or malicious bots. 

In the days since the earnings call, Twitter’s stock, at one point, dropped by as much as 27%. 

Source: Google

While it’s unclear if the timing of today’s announcement was in any way a response to the fallout from its earnings call, it doesn’t seem to have boosted investor confidence.

Here’s a look at the proposals, as well as the public perception of them.

Twitter Announces Selected Proposals to Study Network Health Metrics

“Examining Echo Chambers and Uncivil Discourse”

The first study — which will be led by researchers from four universities — will examine how different “communities” of Twitter users come together when political discussions take shape, and the issues that sometimes arise from them.

One of those issues is the formation of these communities into digital echo chambers, which is what often happens “when discussions involve only like-minded people and perspectives,” as Twitter’s official statement about the proposal describes it.

That can cause a greater reluctance to hear or try to understand other points of view (and those who hold them), leading to the uncivil discourse alluded to in the study’s title.

Researchers say such discourse is chiefly comprised of two types of “problematic” behaviors on Twitter.

The first is “incivility,” which the statement essentially chalks up to rude behavior and dialogue among platform users. 

The second is “intolerant discourse,” which is more severe — and includes things like hate speech and racism.

One of the projected outcomes of this study is the development of algorithms that can differentiate incivility from intolerant discourse. While one is impolite, the statement says, the other “is inherently threatening to democracy.” 

Additionally, the study seeks to measure just how much Twitter users actually acknowledge and participate in conversations with those who share other viewpoints. Whether or not it will also measure the nature of that discourse — and how uncivil or intolerant it is — remains unclear.

“Bridging Gaps Between Communities on Twitter”

The second study — which appears to complement the first —  seeks to determine to what extent user-to-user engagement with different viewpoints can decrease prejudice and discrimination. 

Led by researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Amsterdam, this study builds upon previous findings that when discourse between different groups includes exposure to different perspectives — among other factors, like critical thinking —  it can reduce prejudice.

An update! We’ve selected 2 partners from 230 idea submissions. Our first goal is working to measure the “health” of public conversation, and that measurement be open and defined by third parties (not by us). https://t.co/QjUg5P1RLZ

— jack (@jack)
July 30, 2018

Greater Context

This announcement comes after months of criticism toward Twitter’s approach and efforts toward improving the user experience on its network. 

As recently as Sunday, for example, it was discovered that some users accounts were suspended for including the words “Elon Musk” (the name of the Tesla and SpaceX CEO) in their names or handles. 

If you put “Elon Musk” in your handle, the very next Twitter screen you click to will be a notice that your account has been locked.

They have the technology to clamp down on Nazis using Nazi buzzwords to organize. They could do that. They chose not to. pic.twitter.com/diDjfW1DpG

— April Daniels (@1aprildaniels)
July 29, 2018

HubSpot Art Director Tyler Littwin had a similar experience.

“Twitter was abuzz with all these ‘don’t change your name to Elon Musk’ jokes, and I was curious as to whether this was real or not,” he says. “Long story short: it is.”

While Twitter is punishing that behavior, many say that at the same time, the network has not only allowed those who could be more detrimental to conversational health — like white supremacists — to freely use the network, but has also verified their accounts.

Littwin said that pretense contributed to his confusion. “I tried to change my name to ‘Real Elon Musk’ and was immediately locked out of my account,” he explains. “Not a major hassle to deal with, but it still seems like a weird policy for Twitter to aggressively pursue.”

That points to a potential flaw in the selection of these proposals. While the metrics researchers aim to discover are critical measures of Twitter’s conversational health, what appears to be absent from both of them are proposed solutions to the problems they uncover. As Kia Kokalitcheva of Axios writes, “This won’t solve some of the big criticisms of the company, including its policies and enforcement regarding abusive and harassing behavior.” 

To get a better idea of the public perception of these studies, we asked 717 internet users across the U.S., UK, and Canada: Which study should be prioritized? 

Data collected with Lucid. Survey participants were provided with a description of each study.

The results point to the idea that the studies work in tandem. One looks to measure to what extent Twitter users engage with other points of view, while the other seeks to determine if that engagement can reduce prejudice and discrimination.

But again — if the answer to these questions ultimately is found to be “not much” and “no” — then what?

Twitter has acknowledged that these studies are “ambitious,” perhaps implying that reaching potential solutions — even with detailed metrics from independent researchers — could be a prolonged exercise.

As for whether or not it will result in tangible change — that remains to be seen.

“We simply can’t and don’t want to do this alone,” Dorsey tweeted when the request for proposals was first announced in March. “This will take time.”