Mr. McRitchie:
Thanks very much for your help. I guess I hadn't been as clear as I could
have been in either my first or my second post (reproduced below*) . . .
My issue had involved the mechanics of selecting more than one column at a
time to change from "General" to "Text" during the _Import_ process
(importing data from a .txt file).
Being quite new to Excel, I'd first attempted to do so via the CONTROL key
and was, of course, unsuccessful --- that's why I sent my first post. It
was only _after_ I'd posted that I tried the SHIFT key and, lo and behold,
THAT was the key that DID allow me to select more than one column at a time.
I am aware that I can format a row, a column, or even a single cell on an
already created spreadsheet and that doing so will have no effect until data
is re-entered; however, I was inquiring about _selecting_ more than one
column at a time, during the _import_ process prior to the actual creation
of the spreadsheet.
Thanks again for your help and thank you also for having posted the links to
your sites --- they look quite useful.
--
Alan
"David McRitchie" wrote
> Hi Alan,
> Since you thought of the answer, why didn't you
> try it, or did you?
>
> You can select noncontiguous areas and apply
> formatting to them. Whether they are cells,
> columns, rows all the same.
>
> One thing though that you should be aware of
> simply changing the format between number
> and text either way, will not take effect until the
> content is reentered. You can read more about
> that in the topics at and near
> http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/join.htm#trimall
>
> ---
> HTH,
> David McRitchie, Microsoft MVP - Excel
> My Excel Pages: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
> Search Page: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/search.htm
>
> "Alan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:vMwzh.5430$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> On a daily basis, I have to import data into Excel and then I need to
>> change
>> all the columns into Text. Is there some way that I can select all the
>> columns and then just hit the Text button only once? Or maybe a way to
>> have
>> all the columns be set for Text by default from the start? (Right now
>> the
>> default is "General"). It's a bit of a pain to have to choose Text for
>> each column one at a time.
>> Help would be greatly appreciated.
>> Thanks.
*(2nd post reproduced below):
Sorry ---- a few minutes after I posted that, I figured it out. While using
the Control key does nothing, it's the SHIFT key that'll do it! Duh . . .
.. .
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