Help! My data was "erased" b/c I added color to the cells...

[Conf.Planner]

Help! I just spent about 5 hours inputing data into cells in MS Excel document. And I was on the last 10 minutes, doing final touches, & appearance work (such as adding color to the cells)... and then I noticed that all my data had disappeared!

I don't know how to get it back... I think i just wasted 5 hours!

Help me!

[stevejohnson1958]

Have you tried Edit/Undo to erase the color changes that apparently caused you to lose your data?

[Conf.Planner]

Yes I have. Unfortunately, I did not notice that my data had been erased when I was adding color to the cells so I was repeatedly "saving" my document (to save the changes in color style)... I just don't know why the color would essentially "erase" all my data?!? I have attempted to change the color back to 'no fill', but everything is still gone...?!?

[stevejohnson1958]

If you remove the cell color...does the data reappear?

[Conf.Planner]

If I remove the cell color, the data does not reappear. All the cells are still blank. There are no formulas in this MS Excel document- simply organized data. I've double/triple checked the font color and it's black while the background is now no fill color... still nothing! 

[stevejohnson1958]

What version of Excel are you using?

[Conf.Planner]

MS Excel 2003

[stevejohnson1958]

Did you apply the cell color changes per cell, by highlighting a row or column of cells, or globally?

[Conf.Planner]

I have tried changing the cell color 2 ways:
- Individual cell highliting
- Highlighting a selection of cells (horizontally/vertically)

*Have not attempted to change the cell color "globally" (unsure of meaning?),

*Nor have I highlited entire rows/columns to change... will do now & see if anything appears!... no, nothing different.

[stevejohnson1958]

I use Excel 2000...

I just did a test with it...entering data in the cell and then using the color fill to change the background color.  The text I entered was still there.  I also checked the cell contents...and it's still there, as well.

I then proceeded to undo the color fill and the data remained.

I'm assuming...if you are in a cell that is supposed to have content...and the content is not there...then that information is gone...and cannot be retrieved.  Especially...if you were saving the spreadsheet as you were making changes.

So...my concern is...if you were making changes and overwriting those changes by continually saving the document...and somewhere along the line...the data was lost...then you may as well consider it history.

That is...unless anyone else has anything to add to this conversation.

I'm sorry you put so much work into it...and I'm also sorry I wasn't much help.

[soybean]

So...my concern is...if you were making changes and overwriting those changes by continually saving the document...and somewhere along the line...the data was lost...then you may as well consider it history.

I think Savior's assessment is about the only logical conclusion here.  I'm using Excel 2003 and, like Excel 2000, adding and removing a background color in a cell is not going to change the data in the cell.

Did you, at any time, save the file under a different name or in a different folder so that you would have multiple versions of it?