Calc GuideCAppendix
Calc Error Codes
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Authors
Richard Barnes
Magnus Adielsson
Iain Roberts
Jean Hollis WeberFeedback
Please direct any comments or suggestions about this document to:authors@documentation.openoffice.org

Acknowledgments
Much credit for an earlier version of this work is due to the unselfish
efforts of Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith.

Publication date and software version
Published 24 April 2010. Based on OpenOffice.org 3.2.

You can download
an editable version of this document fromhttp://oooauthors.org/english/userguide3/published/

Contents
Copyright............................................................................................... 2Introduction to Calc error codes............................................................4Error codes displayed within cells.........................................................5
General error codes...............................................................................6

Calc Error Codes

3

Introduction to Calc error codes
Calc provides feedback for errors of miscalculation, incorrect use offunctions, invalid cell references and values, and other user initiatedmistakes. The feedback may be displayed within the cell that contains
the error (Figure 1) or on the status bar (Figure 2) or in both,depending on the type of error. Generally speaking, if the error occurs
in the cell that is selected (or contains the cursor), the error message
is displayed on the status bar.
As an example, Figure 1 shows the error code returned when a column
is too narrow to display the entire formatted date. The date displayed
within the input line, 04/05/1998, would fit within the cell without aproblem, but the format used by the cell produces the date value
Sunday, April 05, 1998.

Figure 1: Error codes displayed within cells
When the cell displaying the #REF error code in Figure 1 is selected,
the status bar displays the error message as shown in Figure 2. Thismessage is more descriptive than the message displayed in the cell,
but it still may not provide enough information to correctly diagnose
the problem. For fuller explanations, consult the following tables andthe Help topic, Error Codes in OpenOffice.org Calc.

Figure 2: An error message displayed in the status bar.
This appendix presents error codes in two tables. This first table
explains error messages which are displayed within the cell that
actually contains the error. Except in the case of the ### error, they
all correspond to a Calc error code number. The second table explains
all of the error codes, listed by code number, including those errors
codes in the first table.

4Calc Error Codes

Error codes displayed within cells
Cell error

Code

Explanation of the error###N/AThe column is too narrow to display the complete
formatted contents of the cell. This is not really anerror value, so there is no corresponding numericalerror code. The solutions to this problem are toincrease the width of the column. or select Format> Cells > Alignment and click either Wrap text
automatically or Shrink to fit cell size to make thetext match the current column width.

Err502502

Function argument is not valid, or more than one
matching cell is found by the DGET function.

#NUM!

503

A calculation resulted in an overflow of the definedvalue range.

#VALUE

519

The formula within the cell returns a value that
does not correspond to the definition of the formulaor functions used. This error could also mean thatthe cell referenced by the formula contains text
instead of a number.

#REF!

524

The formula within the cell uses a reference that
does not exist. Either a column or row description
name could not be resolved, or the column, row, or
sheet that contains a referenced cell is missing.

#NAME?

525

An identifier could not be evaluated: no valid
reference, no valid domain name, no column/row
label, no macro, incorrect decimal divider, add-in
not found. For example, entering in a cell=sum(bob*5) where there is no cell named “bob” orcontaining the text “bob” generates this error.

#DIV/0!

532

Division operator / if the denominator is 0.
Some more functions return this error; see nexttable for details.

Error codes displayed within cells

5General error codes
The following table is an overview of the most common error messages
for OOo Calc.

6

NoteErrors described as Internal errors should not be encountered byusers under normal conditions. Errors listed as Not used are notcurrently assigned to any error condition and will not occur.

CodeMessage

Explanation of the error

501

Invalid character

Character in a formula is not valid. This error
is the same as the Invalid Name error (525)except that it occurs within a formula. The cell
containing the error will display the #NAME?
error reference.

502

Invalid argument

Function argument is not valid; for example, anegative number for the root function. Thiserror also occurs if more than one matchingcell is found by the DGET function.

503

Invalid floating
point operation(cell displays#NUM!)

Division by 0, or another calculation that
results in an overflow of the defined value
range (a value too big or too small).

504

Parameter listerror

Function parameter is not valid; for example,
text instead of a number, or a domainreference instead of a cell reference.

505

Internal syntax
error

Not used.

506

Invalid
semicolon

Not used.

507

Pair missing

Not used.

508

Pair missing

Missing bracket or parenthesis; for example,
closing brackets but no opening brackets.

509

Missing operator

Operator is missing; for example,"=2(3+4) * ", where the operator between"2" and "(" is missing.

510

Missing variable

Variable is missing; for example, when twooperators are together "=1+*2".

511

Missing variable

Function requires more variables than areprovided; for example, AND() and OR().

Calc Error CodesCodeMessage

Explanation of the error

512

Formulaoverflow

The total number of internal tokens (that is,operators, variables, brackets) in the formulaexceeds 512, or the total number of matrices
the formula creates exceeds 150. This includes
basic functions that receive too large an arrayas a parameter.

513

String overflow

An identifier in the formula exceeds 64 KB insize, or a result of a string operation exceeds
64 KB in size.

514

Internal overflow

Sort operation attempted on too muchnumerical data (max. 100000) or a calculation
stack overflow.

515

Internal syntax
error

Not used.

516

Internal syntax
error

Matrix is expected on the calculation stack,but is not available.

517

Internal syntax
error

Unknown error; for example, a document witha newer function is loaded in an older versionof Calc that does not contain the function.

518

Internal syntax
error

Variable is not available.

519

No result (celldisplays#VALUE)

Formula yields a value that does notcorrespond to the definition, or a cell that isreferenced in the formula contains text insteadof a number.

520

Internal syntax
error

Compiler creates an unknown compiler code.

521

Internal syntax
error

No result.

522

Circularreference

Formula refers directly or indirectly to itself
and the Iterations option is not selectedunder Tools > Options > OpenOffice.org
Calc > Calculate.

523

The calculation
procedure does
not converge

Financial statistics function missed a targetedvalue, or iterations of circular references do
not reach the minimum change within themaximum steps that are set.

524

Invalidreferences (celldisplays #REF!)

A column or row description name could not
be resolved, or the column, row, or sheet thatcontains a referenced cell is missing.

General error codes

7

8

CodeMessage

Explanation of the error

525

Invalid names(cell displays#NAME?)

An identifier could not be evaluated; forexample, no valid reference, no valid domain
name, no column/row label, no macro,
incorrect decimal divider, add-in not found.

526Internal syntax
error

Obsolete, no longer used, but could come fromold documents if the result is a formula from adomain.

527

Internal overflow

References, such as when a cell references acell, are too encapsulated or deeply nested.
This is an internal error and should not be
displayed in OOo version 2.0 or greater.

528–
531

—

Not used.

532

Division by zero

Division operator / if the denominator is 0.
Some more functions return this error; forexample:
VARP with less than 1 argument
STDEVP with less than 1 argument
VAR with less than 2 arguments
STDEV with less than 2 arguments
STANDARDIZE with stdev=0
NORMDIST with stdev=0

Calc Error Codes