# A question about MS Excel software

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-ms-excel-software/594602>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 30, 2011, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-ms-excel-software/594602 "2011-08-30T08:32:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Reza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Reza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reza)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-ms-excel-software/594602/1 "2011-08-30T08:32:51Z")

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You know that we have columns and rows in excel, row are numbered 1,2,3 an columns are titled A,B,C,… so forth. But the columns in my Excel are showing 1,2,3,4, instead of A,B,C. The rows are ok 1,3,3,4. This is happening even when I make a new sheet.

I do not remember if I changed the settings. I went to advanced settings, but couldn’t find any option to set back my columns’ title to A,B,C. How can I fix this?

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-ms-excel-software/594602/2 "2011-08-30T08:42:24Z")

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You don’t say what version of Excel you’re using (which makes a difference to the process of navigating to the option you want), but what you’re looking for is an option called ‘Use R1C1 Style’ (or something like that)

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**Author:** ![Reza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Reza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reza)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-ms-excel-software/594602/3 "2011-08-30T08:54:04Z")

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> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> You don’t say what version of Excel you’re using (which makes a difference to the process of navigating to the option you want), but what you’re looking for is an option called ‘Use R1C1 Style’ (or something like that)

2007

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**Author:** ![Reza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Reza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reza)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2011, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-ms-excel-software/594602/4 "2011-08-30T08:58:35Z")

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That’s strange. Now I opened the software to look for " R1C1 Style" in help section, when I saw that the columns titles are OK, A,B,C.

But there’s one thing. First I opened an old file to review something, then taking a look at the columns, I saw they are OK now.  
Thank you Mangetout for your reply.