Percentages Question

[bw]

Column A is formatted as a percentage, with 4 decimal places.
When I enter 5 or .05, I get the same result (5.0000%).
This is obviously not correct.

If the rule is to multiply the number entered by 100, then 5 should be
500.0000% and .05 should be 5.0000%.

So what's wrong here, and how do I make sure that users (and me), don't
enter the wrong values?

Thanks,
Bernie

 

[Dave Peterson]

Excel likes to help--but you can tell it not to.

Tools|options|edit tab|
uncheck "enable automatic percent entry"

 

[joeu2004]

Column A is formatted as a percentage, with 4
decimal places. When I enter 5 or .05, I get
the same result (5.0000%). This is obviously
not correct.

That depends on your point of view.

how do I make sure that users (and me), don't
enter the wrong values?

Tell them to enter the "%" symbol explicitly.
If they do that, they will realize that if they
intended to enter 500%, they will enter "500%",
not "5%".

 

[bw]

Thank you both. Both answers were very helpful, and I'm sure to others
reading this thread...

Thanks again,
Bernie