Calc inserts a second "=" at the head of some formulas. Why?

[RichRostrom]

I have a spreadsheet with some formulas which all begin with “==”.

For instance “==K20-$‘2020’.K20” (where "2020"is the name of a different sheet in the document). I did not put in the extra “=”.

In fact, if I edit the formula to remove the extra “=”, it immediately reappears after I hit return. There are 153 cells with such formulas, on each of 11 sheets.

There are also 102 cells on each sheet like this: “=E2-$Count1.E2”, which don’t have or get the extra “=”.

All of the weird formulas work, so it’s not a problem. But what the heck is going on?

[Zizi64]

Please upload an ODF type sample file here.

[EarnestAl]

I occasionally had issues with the appearance of formulas when I had Skia turned on but didn’t have Force Skia software rendering also ticked. This was due to limitations in my Intel UHD 620 integrated graphics.

If you click Tools > Options > LibreOffice > View, tick Force Skia software rendering and allow LibreOffice to restart, is the issue still present?

[sokol92]

@RichRostrom

All of the weird formulas work

About == see this topic .

[RichRostrom]

Hwew is a fragment of the spreadsheet with the weird behavior. Cells Q2 through S3 on sheet Count1 are affected. I am using LO 24.2.2.2 under macOS Sonoma 14.4.1.

Further information; each of the affected cells contains the same formula with stepped cell references. If one of the affected cells is cleared, the behavior disappears from at least one adjacent cell. If I clear R2, then I can remove the extra “=” from Q2, R3, and S2, but not Q3 or S3. Furthermore, If I then remove the the extra “=” from S2, it also disappears from S3 at the same time. But if I clear Q3, only Q2 is “fixed”.

2020:2024zz.ods (12.3 KB)

[erAck]

I have no problem removing one of the = characters if I start at the top cell (here Q2, R2, S2), which indicates it’s indeed a shared grouped formula.