How do I programmatically get numbers recognized as numbers in a excel
sheet? It contains some sort of data dump which is not recognized in excel
as a number. I select the column and then Format, Cells, Number. Then I
delete the last number in each cell and replace the same number. Then it is
recognized as a number and shifts to align to the right. Is there an easier
way?

Thank you in advance,

David

Maybe the data is coming in as text.
Simply formatting the data to number will not do the trick, as you have found.

Format all to General.

Copy an empty cell.

Select the range of data and Edit>Paste Special>Add>OK>Esc

If this doesn't work, perhaps you have some spaces or extra hidden characters
from the data dump.

Post back if that's the case.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP


On Thu, 15 Nov 2007 14:49:15 -0800, "David Bateman" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>How do I programmatically get numbers recognized as numbers in a excel
>sheet? It contains some sort of data dump which is not recognized in excel
>as a number. I select the column and then Format, Cells, Number. Then I
>delete the last number in each cell and replace the same number. Then it is
>recognized as a number and shifts to align to the right. Is there an easier
>way?
>
>Thank you in advance,
>
>David
>

You can use the TextToColumn method under the Data Menu Bar, or you can use
the PasteSpecial method by copy a cell with a numeric value of 0, then paste
to all other cells as Value and Add Operation. Either trick does just fine.

--

Sincerely,

Ronald R. Dodge, Jr.
Master MOUS 2000

"David Bateman" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Y04%i.1092$(E-Mail Removed)...
> How do I programmatically get numbers recognized as numbers in a excel
> sheet? It contains some sort of data dump which is not recognized in excel
> as a number. I select the column and then Format, Cells, Number. Then I
> delete the last number in each cell and replace the same number. Then it
> is
> recognized as a number and shifts to align to the right. Is there an
> easier
> way?
>
> Thank you in advance,
>
> David
>
>