Formula omits adjacent cells ошибка

Ignore the Excel error or update your formula to include the cells

by Claire Moraa

Claire likes to think she’s got a knack for solving problems and improving the quality of life for those around her. Driven by the forces of rationality, curiosity,… read more

Updated on December 14, 2022

Reviewed by
Alex Serban

After moving away from the corporate work-style, Alex has found rewards in a lifestyle of constant analysis, team coordination and pestering his colleagues. Holding an MCSA Windows Server… read more

If you get an error message saying that your formula omits adjacent cells when you try to enter it, your Excel spreadsheet has probably been modified.

The problem is that when such an error occurs, it can mess up your entire worksheet. You may have to redo all of your calculations from scratch or worse, start over, especially if Excel fails to respond when saving.

What does the error formula omits adjacent cells mean in excel?

The error formula omits adjacent cells means that there is an error in the formula in the cell. When you have an array of formulas, Excel assumes that the data for all are continuous and not separated by other data.

If your data is separated by other data or if some cells contain blank values, then Excel will not be able to evaluate the formula correctly. But why does this happen? Below are some possible reasons:

• Cell has no data – The error function in Excel only calculates values for cells where there is data present. If a cell has no data, then it will not be included in the calculation process.
• The cell no longer exists – It is possible that the formula you may be referencing belongs to a cell that has been deleted or renamed.
• Range has been changed – The formula may be referencing a dynamic range that no longer exists due to changes in the spreadsheet.
• Blank cells in between – This error occurs when there are empty cells between each cell that you want to include in your formula. 

What can I do if the Excel error formula omits adjacent cells?

Check off the following first before you proceed:

• First, check to make sure that your formula includes all of the necessary parts.
• If you are working with a small data set, try to identify any empty cells and delete them.

1. Uncheck formulas that omit cells

1. Launch your Excel sheet and then click on File.
2. Navigate to Options and then select Formulas.
3. Look for Error checking rules and uncheck Formulas which omit cells in a region.
4. Click OK.

2. Switch from absolute to relative reference

1. Open the Excel sheet and select the cell that contains the formula.
2. Navigate to the formula bar at the top and press F4 until you get the relative reference option.

Absolute and relative references in Excel formulas are two ways to refer to cells in your spreadsheet. They both have their purpose, and sometimes you may find yourself using them interchangeably.

Absolute cell references are the default in Excel. However, there are times when using an absolute reference is not the best option. This type of notation is not always intuitive because it does not take into account the position of the cell that contains the formula.

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3. Update the formula to include the cells

When you update the formula to include the cells that you want to reference, Excel can properly evaluate it and display its result properly.

The caveat to this method is that if you have a very large spreadsheet with many formulas, then it can be difficult to track down which cell is causing the problem.

If nothing seems to work, you can opt to ignore the error or seek help from the help task pane in Excel. The built-in tool diagnoses some problems and may be able to recommend a solution.

Excel errors are in no shortage as you can expect to encounter a few hiccups when you’re working with sheets and formulas. We have crafted a dedicated article to help you in case you want to recover a corrupted Excel file so that you don’t have to lose all your work.

In other instances, you may be unable to type in Excel, but we know what you can do to keep things moving as you shall see in our expert guide.

Let us know of any other tricks you used if you were in a similar predicament in the comment section below.

This tutorial demonstrates how to get rid of the green (trace error) triangle in Excel.

If the data contained in a cell has an error as defined by Excel, and background error checking is switched on, then a small green triangle is displayed in the top-left corner of a cell. If you click in the cell, you get a list of suggested fixes. On some occasions, you may not want to change the data in your cell, but just to hide the green triangle and ignore the error.

Switch Off Background Error Checking

To stop the green triangle error from showing, you can switch off background error checking in Excel.

1. In the Ribbon, go to File > Options > Formulas > Error Checking.
2. Remove the tick from the Enable background error checking option, and then click OK.

Note: This removes background error checking for the active workbook and any workbooks opened in the future.

Error Checking Rules

Instead of turning background error checking completely off, you can switch off individual rules that are switched on by default in Excel. For example, in the data above, the numbers are formatted as text and therefore cannot be used in calculation formulas. The green triangle alerts to this and provides a list of possible solutions. You can switch off this specific error check.

1. In the Ribbon, select File > Options > Formulas > Error Checking.
2. In the Error checking rules section, remove the check mark from Numbers formatted as text or preceded by an apostrophe to stop Excel from checking for this specific error, and then click OK.

Ignore Error

It’s generally best to keep the background error checking switched on, as it is very useful in showing you if you have an error in the data or in a formula.

1. To remove the green triangles from cells where you are aware of the error – but do not want to see the triangle – select the cells, and then click on the little yellow exclamation mark icon.
2. Click Ignore Error to remove the green triangles, or if you want to solve the error, click Convert to Number, making the cell values suitable for use in calculations.

Use the Trace Error Drop Down

If your error has a different reason, for example a divide by zero formula error, then a different set of options is shown.

You can also ignore the error, or you can click Show Calculation Steps to resolve the error. If you click Edit in Formula Bar, Excel puts the formula into editing mode and place your mouse pointer in the formula bar so you can make changes to the formula.

Another reason for the error could be an inconsistent formula. This occurs when the formula in the cell is different to the formula that is in the cell above. If this is the case, a different set of options appears.

To solve this problem and remove the green triangle, you can click Copy Formula from Above or, if you do not want to change the formula, you can, once again, click Ignore Error.

Common Errors in Excel

A few more common Excel errors can cause the green triangle to show in a cell – all of which can be removed using the Ignore Error option, or can be solved using Excel’s error checking options.

Cell Reference Error

#REF – this error normally occurs when a formula is referring to a range that is cannot find – or if rows/columns have been removed.

Resting your mouse on the exclamation mark icon shows you the reason for error, while clicking on the drop down shows you a list of possible solutions.

Value Error

#VALUE – this error normally occurs when you are trying to include a cell that has text in it, in a calculation.

Adjacent Cells Error

Formula Omits Adjacent Cells – this error normally occurs when you have a function like the SUM Function and are not including all the possible cells in the calculation.