Woody's Office Watch and Excel calculation problems: a follow-up

Woody's Office Watch clarification Last time, we mentioned Woody's Office Watch, a web site that tracks issues related to Microsoft Office. We implied that it was mainly or only for Windows users. From Peter Deegan, editor of Woody's Office Watch, comes this clarification: "Woody's Office Watch is mainly about the Windows versions of Office, but we also have a dedicated Macintosh audience and we cover Mac issues as well. In many cases the features across the two platforms are merging and our Windows tips are also helpful to Mac users."

Regarding the Excel problems More specifically addressing the Excel problems reported last time, Woody adds: "None of the Excel 97 calculation bugs (described on WOW) have made their way to the version in Office 98 for Mac (lucky you). We noted this fact in Woody's Office Watch many weeks ago. So there's no need of a Mac fix for those particular calculation problems - although Excel 98 for Mac has its own problems as you rightly point out."

As for the percentage bug mentioned on MacFixIt, Woody states: "Your reader is quite correct, it's a bug. And it's present in Excel 97 for Windows but not Excel 95 for Windows." Lee Hudspeth adds: "Note: If you enter exactly "-2%" (no quotes) you'll get the correct display of "-2.00%" (no quotes). Similarly, if you enter exactly "=-.02" (no quotes) you'll get the correct display of "-2.00%" (no quotes)."

Richard Hallmark notes: "If you follow the instructions to observe the bug and type 0.02 instead of .02, Excel will display 0.02% not 2.00%."