Euro Currency Character Is Not Displayed Correctly in Excel 2003 (829389)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office Excel 2003
For a Microsoft Excel 97 version of this article, see 192361.

For a Microsoft Excel 2000 version of this article, see 217124.

For a Microsoft Excel 2002 version of this article, see 829388.
Important This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SYMPTOMS

The euro currency character is not displayed as expected on your Microsoft Excel worksheet. It appears as a vertical bar or a pipe character instead of the euro character.

CAUSE

This problem occurs when you do any of the following:
  • You zoom the worksheet to less than 80 percent. This percentage may vary depending on the type and size of the font that you are using on the worksheet.

    -or-
  • You format the worksheet cell with a font size less than 8 points. This size may vary depending on the zoom level of the worksheet.
For example, the following table shows the zoom level where the euro character is displayed incorrectly for a particular font size:

Font size (Arial)Zoom level
4less than 200%
6less than 135%
8less than 100%
10less than 80%
12less than 70%

RESOLUTION

When you adjust the zoom ratio of the worksheet to less than 80 percent (depending on the type and size of font that you are using) or resize the font to less than 8 points, Excel switches to using Small Fonts, Smalle.fon, or Smallf.fon, depending on the video driver in use in Microsoft Windows. Currently the Euro font is not supported for font sizes smaller than 8 points. However, you can add a registry entry that causes Excel not to switch to using Small Fonts when zooming the worksheet.

To use Registry Editor to disable the Small Font substitution, follow these steps.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.
  1. Quit any programs that are running.
  2. Click Start, and then click Run.
  3. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
  4. Locate, and then click to select the following registry key:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Excel\Options

  5. After you select the key that is specified in step 4, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click DWORD.
  6. Type FontSub, and then press ENTER.
  7. Right-click FontSub, and then click Modify.
  8. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
  9. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Registry Editor.
  10. Start Excel.
Note When you zoom your worksheet to 60%, Excel will not substitute a Small Font and the euro character will appear as expected.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about the euro character, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/eurosymbolfaq.mspx

This Web page contains information about euro character support and links to other relevant Web pages, including the official European Union Web site.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:7/27/2006
Keywords:kbprb KB829389
©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.