Excel has a few quirks - eg Column A is now Coumn 1

[velohead]

I am using Excel 2010, I think. I know it is not Excel 2003 as one can tell what version that is under Help / About.
I don't think it's Excel 2007 or Excel 2013 but I forget how one tells.

Anyway, so, I notice today that.......

a)
my column *A* is now column *1* (despite there also being a row *1*)
my column *B* is now column *2* (despite there also bing a row *2*)
etc etc


b)
my formula that would be.... =vlookup(A1,sheet1,B:C,2,false)
is now.....=vlookup(RC[-5],Sheet1!C[-4]:C[-3],2,false)
so it's doing this RC thing which I don't want it to do.
Perhaps because cell A1 is now called cell 11, due to problem a)

How do I revert back to something whereby column A is called column A.

Thanks.

Any Ideas

 

[velohead]

ok, found solution under the following...

excel options / formulas / working with formulas / R1C1 Style

But the question remains......why/how did this get changed, as I did not do that.

I am using Unix / Citrix sh*te so would that be an issue ?

 

[Rick Rothstein]

You need to get to Excel Options. I don't have XL2013 installed, so I am not sure how to get to the options in it (but I'll guess it is similar to XL2010).

To see the Help/About Panel
---------------------------------------------
For XL2007... click the large circle in the upper left corner of the Excel window and then click the button labeled "Excel Options" at the bottom of the menu panel that appears, then click the Resources item along the left side of the next menu panel that appears and click the "about Microsoft Office Excel 2007" About button" on the next panel that appears

For XL2010... click the button labeled "File" in the upper left corner of the Excel Window adn then click the item labeled "Help" in the list along the left side of the menu panel that appears.

To fix the problem you wrote about
---------------------------------------------
For XL2007... click the large circle in the upper left corner of the Excel window and then click the button labeled "Excel Options" at the bottom of the menu panel that appears, click the "Formulas" item on the left and then find the section titled "Working with formulas" and uncheck the checkbox labeled "R1C1 reference style", then click the OK button.

For XL2010... click the button labeled "File" in the upper left corner of the Excel Window adn then click the item labeled "Options" in the list along the left side of the menu panel that appears, click the "Formulas" item on the left and then find the section titled "Working with formulas" and uncheck the checkbox labeled "R1C1 reference style", then click the OK button.