How do I stop a general format from being autoformatted to date

[cpp01rem]

I want to stop Excel from automatically changing the format of a cell
from general to time every time I enter a new row of data.


I have several column headings running across the top of the page and I
have set the format of 4 columns to display the time (HH:MM), the next
column has been formatted to show a GENERAL entry.

This was done by selecting the whole column and applying the format of
General.

The problem is when I enter data for a particular row I enter from left
to right and put the data in the 4 TIME formatted cells first, by the
time I go to the 5th cell which should just be a number Excel has
changed the format to Data and I have to manually change it back.

This doesn't happen if I enter the number first and then the times, but
because of the way the data is collected and presented on the data sheet
I want to enter the times first.

How do I stop excel from being "clever" and autoformatting the number
cell to a time format?

thanks

 

[Roger Govier]

Hi

I don't know what version of Excel you are running, but in XL2003,
Tools>Options>Edit and uncheck Extend Data Range formats and formulas

Regards

Roger Govier

 

[cpp01rem]

thanks

that worked a treat