Excel is one of the most popular programs in the world, thanks to the Office suite being used by basically every Windows user at some point. Even if you don’t use these programs, you have heard of them.
Regardless of its popularity, however, something like Excel can be a bit difficult to use, especially when dealing with complex use cases and data sets. The program also isn’t immune to everyday bugs and glitches users might face.
In this article, we’re talking about the “power bi dataformat.error invalid cell value” problem in Excel, its causes and what you can do to fix the problem.
Also read: Arrow keys not working in Excel: 3 Fixes
What causes this error?
The error can be caused by a number of different issues. Some of the most common ones include:
- The data source you’re using isn’t correct.
- Invalid Excel formula or query.
How to fix this?
Here are three fixes you can try out.
Restart Excel
One quick thing you should try out before you get started with any technical troubleshooting is to restart Excel. This refreshes all configurations, data sets and formulas that might be outdated and could cause problems.
Check your data source for error codes
Next up, you should check your data source for any values or error codes that won’t work with the Excel formula or power query that you’re trying to run. More often than not, they’re something like ‘#N/A’, or ‘#REF’.
There are two ways you can fix this. Either fix your source data so that it doesn’t contain the error code anymore or use the try functionality to catch and deal with any errors.
Check your Excel formula or power query
Checking your Excel formula or power query for any errors is also a good idea at this point. The error can be triggered regardless of whether there’s an inconsistency in your data or the Excel formula itself. Check to make sure your syntax is correct, that you’re referencing the right columns and that the correct operation is being done.
Also read: How to fix compile error in hidden module in Excel?
