DON the TEXT function does not seem to work. Excel has already assigned a
time value to it and from what i understand TEXT only changes the format not
the value. So after i use the TEXT function then i try to find the leftmost
character i.e. LEFT(A1) on the result it doesnt work.

The heart of the problem is i want to keep excel from assigning a time value
to it when i import it i want it to remain as it is, remain as just text.
There's no way to do this? can't i turn something off somehow.

Nayab i tried what you wrote i don't think it'll work. I don't want to
convert from one time measurement to another i want to convert from one
format to another. i think.

HELP