Today, I learned how Region settings in Windows can truly botch up Excel.
A reader of one of my Pulitzer Prize worthy books sent me an email stating that the example formulas aren’t working.
After a bit of back and forth, he sent me this:
Huh? Since when does Excel use semicolons instead of commas as argument separators?
Well, in researching this anomaly, I was surprised to find lots of examples where people state that “their version of Excel” uses semicolons instead of commas.
That makes no sense!
Well, it turns out that a Region setting causes Excel to error when entering commas in formulas.
If you’re one of those folks who have been happily entering formulas with semicolons, stop! You can fix this.
Here’s how:
1. In Windows, go to the Control Panel (Start->Control Panel).
2. Select Clock, Language and Region.
3. Select the option for number format.
4. In the Region and Language dialog box, the Additional Settings button.
5. Change the List Separator property to a comma, then click the Apply button,
Now you can use Excel like everyone else in the world.