How do I keep a fraction as entered (leave 12/20 not 3/5)?

[Guest]

I need to have fractions show up as I enter them (12/20, 13/20, 15/20). Is
there any way to keep Excel from changing those that can be (i.e. 12/20 to
3/5)?

 

[Bob Phillips]

Format the cell as ??/??

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HTH

Bob Phillips

(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)

 

[Guest]

Interesting, you could format the cells TEXT, that keeps them from changing,
but when you try to do math with them using the VALUE function, it treats
them as dates, eg, 5/10 returns a value of 38847, which is the DATEVALUE of
May 10.
Sorry I can't answer the question.

 

[Guest]

I found # ??/?? under 'custom' but that did not work. Is there some other
way I can format the cell as ??/?? as you say? ~ Thanks.

 

[RagDyeR]

Try this:

# ??/20

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HTH,

RD
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Please keep all correspondence within the Group, so all may benefit!
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I found # ??/?? under 'custom' but that did not work. Is there some other
way I can format the cell as ??/?? as you say? ~ Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Thanks -that's exactly what I want - only I don't know how to get that
formatting into Excel. How do I change the bottom ?? into 20? Am I in the
right place by going to Format...Cells...Custom ?

 

[Guest]

Format>cells->Number tab
Under Category select custom
Under Type:
input this exactly
# ??/20

It will round every number to the closest 20th and display as fraction. If
you need other denominators, you will need to format each one seperately, or
format as text.

You are in the right place. When you select # ??/??, you should be able to
edit the text box under Type: