Changing formats in cells

[Guest]

I am opening a text(tab delimited) file in Excel. When I enter a number with hyphens in it, Excel automatically changes it to a date. I have reformatted the cells many different ways, but everytime I try to save the file, the numbers get converted back to dates!!! What can I do?

 

[jeff]

Hi,

YOu can pre-format the cells to Text. or prefix the
data with an apostrophe.

jeff

-----Original Message-----
I am opening a text(tab delimited) file in Excel. When

I enter a number with hyphens in it, Excel automatically
changes it to a date. I have reformatted the cells many
different ways, but everytime I try to save the file, the
numbers get converted back to dates!!! What can I do?

 

[RagDyer]

Pre-format the cells to "Text", *BEFORE* you enter any data,
OR
Make your first keystroke an apostrophe ('), when entering this kind of
data.
The apostrophe will *not* be visible in the cell, but can be seen in the
formula bar.

--

HTH,

RD
==============================================
Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
==============================================



I am opening a text(tab delimited) file in Excel. When I enter a number
with hyphens in it, Excel automatically changes it to a date. I have
reformatted the cells many different ways, but everytime I try to save the
file, the numbers get converted back to dates!!! What can I do?

 

[Peo Sjoblom]

I believe it is when you are opening the file again that excel converts the
file, for a text file use the text import wizard
and in step 3 select text under column data format

--

Regards,

Peo Sjoblom

(No private emails please, for everyone's
benefit keep the discussion in the newsgroup/forum)

I know how to re-format the text to show numbers - several different ways.

The problem arises when I save the file. I have tried saving it as an Excel
file, and I have tried saving it in Text(tab delimited) format. Either way,
it reconverts the numbers to dates, ignoring my formatting.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for trying to help. I have no problem formating the numbers as text, the problem arises when I save the worksheet (either in Excel or as text (tab delimited). When I re-open it, the dates are always back. This is a problem, since we need to export the data from the spreadsheet into another program.

 

[Lady Layla]

When you open the file, set the column this information is going to as text (do
this through the Text file Wizard)

You are saving the file as a txt vs a csv file?


: I know how to re-format the text to show numbers - several different ways.
The problem arises when I save the file. I have tried saving it as an Excel
file, and I have tried saving it in Text(tab delimited) format. Either way, it
reconverts the numbers to dates, ignoring my formatting.
:
: "RagDyer" wrote:
:
: > Pre-format the cells to "Text", *BEFORE* you enter any data,
: > OR
: > Make your first keystroke an apostrophe ('), when entering this kind of
: > data.
: > The apostrophe will *not* be visible in the cell, but can be seen in the
: > formula bar.
: >
: > --
: >
: > HTH,
: >
: > RD
: > ==============================================
: > Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
: > ==============================================
: >
: >
: >
: > : > I am opening a text(tab delimited) file in Excel. When I enter a number
: > with hyphens in it, Excel automatically changes it to a date. I have
: > reformatted the cells many different ways, but everytime I try to save the
: > file, the numbers get converted back to dates!!! What can I do?
: >
: >