2 ways

1. Right click and format your cell as text.
2 Put ' infront of the 12 (it wont be displayed) and then type your text.

Mike

"Sarah" wrote:

Hello, I'm a new excel user. I am trying to make a spreadsheet which lists
content in a magazine. One of the colums I have set up is 'pages,' and here's
where I'm having my problem. If an article is listed on pages 12-13, and I
type 12-13, it immediately fills the cell with '13 Dec.' I'm not typing a
date, you silly program! How can I make it just leave my cells alone???