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Calc Guide 7.5

Appendix B
Error Codes

Copyright

This document is Copyright © 2023 by the LibreOffice Documentation Team. Contributors are listed below. You may distribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either the GNU General Public License (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html), version 3 or later, or the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), version 4.0 or later.

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Contributors

To this edition

Skip Masonsmith

Kees Kriek

 

To previous editions

Barbara Duprey

Jean Hollis Weber

Claire Wood

Kees Kriek

Steve Fanning

Gordon Bates

Felipe Viggiano

 

 

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Publication date and software version

Published February 2023. Based on LibreOffice 7.5 Community.
Other versions of LibreOffice may differ in appearance and functionality.

Introduction to Calc error codes

Calc provides feedback for errors of miscalculation, incorrect use of functions, invalid cell references and values, and other user initiated mistakes. 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 a problem, but the format used by the cell produces the date value Sunday, April 05, 1998.

Figure 1: Error codes displayed within cells

Graphic2

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. This message 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 and the Help topic, Error Codes in LibreOffice Calc.

Figure 2: An error message displayed in the Status bar

Graphic5

This appendix presents error codes in two tables.

1)  Table 1 lists error strings 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. Alphanumeric codes such as Err502 and Err511 can also appear in cells; these are not separately identified in the Table 1 but their meanings are given in Table 2.

2)  Table 2 explains all of the error codes, listed by code number, including those error codes in the first table.

Tip

You can use the ERRORTYPE() function to find the code number for an error occurring in a different cell. Refer to the Help system for more detail about this function.

Error codes displayed within cells

Table 1: Error codes in cells

Code

Message

Explanation of the error

N/A

###

The column is too narrow to display the complete formatted contents of the cell. This is not really an error value, so there is no corresponding numerical error code. The solutions to this problem are to increase the width of the column, or select Format > Cells > Alignment and click either Wrap text automatically or Shrink to fit cell size in the Properties area to make the text match the current column width.

503

#NUM!

A calculation resulted in an overflow of the defined value range.

519

#VALUE!

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

524

#REF!

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.

525

#NAME?

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” or containing the text “bob” generates this error.

532

#DIV/0!

Division operator / if the denominator is 0.

Some more functions return this error; see next table for details.

General error codes

The following table is an overview of the most common error messages for LibreOffice Calc.

Note

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

Table 2: List of error codes

Code

Message

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, a negative number for the SQRT() function. This error also occurs if more than one matching cell 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 list error

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

507, 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 two operators are together "=1+*2".

511

Missing variable

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

512

Formula overflow

The total number of internal tokens (that is, operators, variables, brackets) in the formula exceeds 8192, or the total number of matrices the formula creates exceeds 150. This includes basic functions that receive too large an array as a parameter.

513

String overflow

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

514

Internal overflow

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

515

Internal syntax error

Unknown error.

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 with a newer function is loaded in an older version of Calc that does not contain the function.

518

Internal syntax error

Variable is not available.

519

No result (cell displays #VALUE!)

Formula yields a value that does not correspond to the definition, or a cell that is referenced in the formula contains text instead of a number.

520

Internal syntax error

Compiler creates an unknown compiler code.

521

Internal syntax error (cell displays #NULL!)

No code or no result.

522

Circular reference

Formula refers directly or indirectly to itself and the Iterations option is not selected under Tools > Options > LibreOffice Calc > Calculate.

523

The calculation procedure does not converge

Function missed a targeted value, or iterations of circular references do not reach the minimum change within the maximum steps that are set.

524

Invalid references (cell displays #REF!)

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

525

Invalid names (cell displays #NAME?)

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

526

Internal syntax error

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

527

Internal overflow

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

528 to 529

Not used.

‍530

No AddIn

Add-in not found.

‍531

No Macro

Macro not found.

532

Division by zero (cell displays #DIV/0!)

Division operator / if the denominator is 0.

Some more functions return this error; for example:

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

533

Nested arrays are not supported

For example, “={1;{2}}

538

Error: Array or matrix size

Array or matrix size invalid.

539

Unsupported inline array content

For example, “={1+2}

540

External content disabled

Occurs when a function that requires (re)loading of external sources is encountered and the user hasn't confirmed reloading of external sources yet.

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