XL98: Text Property Is Limited to 255 Characters (182483)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition
This article was previously published under Q182483

SYMPTOMS

In Visual Basic for Applications macros in Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, when you use the Text property to read text from a cell, not all of the text contained in the object is returned.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs if you use the Text property to read text from a cell that contains more than 255 characters; the Text property can read only 255 characters from a cell.

WORKAROUND

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements. If there is a chance that a cell will contain more than 255 characters, use the Value property to read the text from the cell. The Value property can read up to 32,767 characters from a cell.

For example, if you want to read the text from cell A1, when cell A1 contains more than 255 characters, follow these steps:

  1. Enter the following Visual Basic for Applications code into a module sheet: 
          Sub Read_Text()

          MyVar = Range("A1").Value
          MsgBox MyVar

      End Sub
  2. Run the Read_Text macro.
A message box with the text from cell A1 is displayed.

STATUS

This behavior is by design of Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition.

MORE INFORMATION

You can use the Text property in Microsoft Excel to read text from cells: 
   MyVar = Range("A1").Text
In earlier versions of Microsoft Excel, the problem described in this article does not occur because cells can only contain up to 256 characters.

However, Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition allows up to 32,767 characters per cell. Because of this, the Text property may not work as expected when you use it to read a cell that contains more than 255 characters.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:6/17/2005
Keywords:kbprb kbProgramming KB182483
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