Saved xlsx to xls, but vlookup doesn't work

[Mycroft66]

I received an .xlsx file, opened it and saved it to .xls (Excel 2003, SP3). When I opened the .xls file and tried doing a VLOOKUP, however, it didn't work - the formula is visible as text. (=VLOOKUP($A2,Original!$A$12:$A$865,1,FALSE).
I've tried other formulas and they don't work either - they all appear as text in the cells.
What do I need to do to get the formulas to work?
Thanks

 

[GlennUK]

If you are trying to use formulas in a cell, make sure it is formatted as something other than "Text" before you start.

 

[Gerald Higgins]

Hi, welcome to the board.

It looks as if, for some reason, you've got an extra "(" character at the start of your formula.
Apart from that, your formula looks fine.
Is that the case with the other examples too ?
If it is, you could maybe try using Edit, Find and Replace, to Find, for example,

(=

and replace with

=

 

[Mycroft66]

Gerald,

I put in the "(" for the purposes of this post; it's not in the formulas in my spreadsheet.

Thanks very much for replying.

 

[Mycroft66]

GlennUK,

Thanks also for replying - the "text" formatting seems to be the issue. I changed it to "General" and that worked.
Thanks much!

 

[GlennUK]

GlennUK,

Thanks also for replying - the "text" formatting seems to be the issue. I changed it to "General" and that worked.
Thanks much!

That's great. Glad to help.