What does an apostrophe (') in front of a word mean?

[Guest]

What does an apostrophe (') in front of a word mean in an cell of an Excel
spreadsheet? How can I change the format with an ' into a text format of
general format? Please let me know. Thank you very much.
Youzhong Li

 

[joeu2004]

What does an apostrophe (') in front of a word mean in an cell
of an Excel spreadsheet?

I assume you are talking about an apostrophe as the first character
in a cell.

It prevents Excel from interpreting the text. For example, I like to
enter "dates" in the form May06. If I do that, Excel treats it as a
date and reformats it in the form May-06. When I enter 'May06,
Excel formats exactly as May06. I do not need the apostrophe if
I have the forethought to format the cell as Text. But usually I don't
have that forethought; and after entering May06 without the
apostrophe, formatting the cell as Text results in a number -- the
way that Excel stores dates under the covers.

How can I change the format with an ' into a text format of
general format?

The usual way works: click on Format > Cells > Number > Text.
The apostrophe remains hidden.

 

[keepITcool]

in addition:

YES: you can remove all the (starting) apostrophs.
PROVIDED you set the cell(s) numberformat to TEXT first.

the apostroph is a leftover from lotus 1-2-3..
where it was an indicator for left aligned.

--
keepITcool
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