Bug 170416 - UI: on error #FMT, the status bar shall show information about the value not about "#FMT"
Summary: UI: on error #FMT, the status bar shall show information about the value not ...
Status: UNCONFIRMED
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Calc (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
25.8.4.2 release
Hardware: All All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
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Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2026-01-21 11:55 UTC by Michael Otto
Modified: 2026-01-21 20:22 UTC (History)
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Description Michael Otto 2026-01-21 11:55:32 UTC
ENHANCEMENT: 
On error #FMT, the cell information field in the status bar shall still 
show information about the value, not about the error message "#FMT", 
same as with error ###.

ACTUAL: 
If a value is not in the range of a Number Format Code, error #FMT is shown, 
and the cell information field in the status bar shows its information about 
the error message "#FMT", not about the value. 
With error ### when the cell is too narrow it is like that. 

REASON: 
With both ### and #FMT, further calculation with this value is still 
possible, as both are problems with the presentation, not with the value.
Comment 1 ady 2026-01-21 20:22:17 UTC
I am not convinced that dealing with #FMT should be the same as with ###.

Example:

1. On a new spreadsheet, narrow down the width of column A so only 4 characters could be seen (e.g. cell A1: 1234 and then narrow down the width of the column).
2. Cell A2: 12345 [enter]; the ### "error" is displayed on cell A2, while the numeric value is still usable.
3. Cell A3: 123456789 [enter]; the ### "error" is displayed on cell A3, while the numeric value is still usable.
4. Click once on the column A header, so all the cells in it are now selected.
5. Change the cell format to Date.
5.1. Cells A1 and A2 still show the same "###", whereas cell A3 shows "#FMT".

While, in theory, all those numeric values are still "usable", the value in A3 (123456789) has no valid meaning as a Date (the internal serial number would be out of the valid range for a date).

So, in theory, you could still use the value in cell A3, but the #FMT error is telling you that something else is probably "not quite correct". Showing the numeric value in the status bar instead of showing #FMT would "provide a misleading hint", instead of actually providing a real hint (as currently intended).