I have recently hit a problem using Excel 2003 on XP and Vista machines. I have a spreadsheet with 2000 rows and 15 columns. All columns are formatted "general." When I add a new column and enter in the first cell in the column "= Cell X in the same row/Cell Y in the same Row" and click enter, I get the correct computed value, say, 10.25. When I copy this cell and paste into the remaining cells in the same column, Excel does not carry out the computations using relative addressing of appropriate cells. Instead, it returns the fixed value of 10.25 in each of the pasted cells! I tried to enter a set of small numbers in another part of the spreadsheet and saw whether this behavior persisted. It occurs all over the spreadsheet. If I copy and paste the entire spreadsheet to a new sheet or new book, then also the behavior persists.
This spreadsheet has been handled by several persons and I do not know whether all original formatting has been preserved or changed. No changed formats are apparent.
However, if I copy the spreadsheet, and paste values only into a new book, everything is normal again and I am able to paste formulas and get them to compute appropriately.
I threfore suspect that this is an unexpected behavior carried over and propogated by formatting. Can anyone help me to find out where exactly the problem originated and help me to fix it?
Thanks.