Viewing Zero's In Cells

[Greg Matthews]

Hi,

I am entering telephone numbers into a spreadsheet, and as these all start
with a zero. I enter a ' preceeding the zero, but this still displays a
triangle in the top left of the cell.

Is there any way I can enter a cell beginning with a zero without the
triangle showing?

Thanks

Greg Matthews

 

[Bob Phillips]

I assume that the triangle is an Excel 2003 thing.

Format the cell for all zeroes such as 00000 000000

--

HTH

RP
(remove nothere from the email address if mailing direct)

 

[David McRitchie]

Hi Greg,
You should be entering phone numbers, zip codes,
social security numbers, health numbers, credit card numbers
(especially), and account numbers as TEXT, not as numbers.
They are all identification. If you prefer to see some of them right
aligned then right align them but don't enter them as numbers.

Format the column as TEXT, or precede the data with a
single quote to indicate text.

 

[Dnereb]

look at custom cell formattong with # or 0 depending how you want to
let the leading zero behave.

 

[Greg Matthews]

Thanks for all the replies.

I have formatted cells as TEXT, and added the single quote, but the cell
still shows a triangle in the top left. I am using Excel 2003, any idea how
the triangle can be removed?

 

[David McRitchie]

Hi Greg,

Green, upper-left corner of a cell indicates a potential error in the formula in the cell. To turn off or adjust settings: select
Tools, Options, and select the Error Checking (tab) and uncheck "Clear the Enable Background Error Checking". Was new in Excel
2002, in Excel 2003 you can change the color of error indicator triangle.
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/colors.htm#triangles

 

[Greg Matthews]

Hi, David.

Thanks for this.

I have now removed the indicator triangles from the cells. Looking at the
help pages, and possible reasons why this happens, I couldn't really see the
actual cause of this. Is this a known issue in Excel 2003?

Greg.

 

[David McRitchie]

Hi Greg,
It's not on Excel 2000 but that indicator is just a warning that something
could be wrong, it is not an indication that something actually is wrong,
and it annoys a lot of people and those that are really
annoyed turn it off. Something that looks like a number but is text
could be a problem if you try to use it arithmetically.

I don't know how annoying it would be, Clippy was very annoying yet
i've heard people say they don't mind it or it is their wife's laptop
and she likes it.

 

[Greg Matthews]

David,

Thanks for this, all resolved and I understand this much better now.

Greg.