Denise,

Instead of doing it setpwise, you can do it all at once. The macro below will convert all text
string numbers in column A of the active sheet to actual numbers.

It should only take a blink to do it. It just requires that row 1 not be filled all the way to
column IV... You can change the format from general to a specific number format if you want to
format the text numbers in a specific way:

..NumberFormat = "0.00"

to show two decimal places, for example....

HTH,
Bernie
MS Excel MVP

Sub ConvertTextNumbersToNumbers()
Dim mySel As Range
Dim myCell As Range

Set mySel = Selection

Set myCell = Range("IV1").End(xlToLeft)(1, 2)

On Error Resume Next
With myCell
..NumberFormat = "general"
..Value = 1
..Copy
Range("A:A").SpecialCells(xlCellTypeConstants, 2).PasteSpecial _
Paste:=xlPasteValues, Operation:=xlMultiply
..Clear
End With

mySel.Select

End Sub


"Denise" wrote in message
...
Hi! I have a data dump I am running several macros on. One macro I would
love to run is to convert a column of text numbers to numerical.

Excel does recognize them - I get the little green tirangle. But anyone who
uses Excel XP or 2003 (which I do) knows that formatting does NOT work.
Conversion must be done using that Smart Tag option.

However, the smart tag action does not get recorded in a macro. Microsoft
gave us a wonderful new feature and then didn't let us record it and make
life alittle easier.

So, if anyone can help me find a way to get this action recorded into the
macro, I would be forever grateful and even have monks pray for you.