Hi bob
This type of numbers excel feeds as a date its automatic selection, so have
to change the format then only we can get the req number.

step 1 : first select the row where u want to enter this type of digits
step 2 : Then right click format cell then select number ..........there u
select as TEXT
step 3 : Once u select the text the entre select colum should be disable
from auto date to text . what we entre that one only it will show

try this catch u later bye

--
Name : K.Prasad
Inventory Manager
CRYSTALGALLERY
DUBAI



"Bobjv" wrote:

Excel autoformats a cell when I input the string of characters 05-2117. Has
anyone had a problem with this before? This is a customer number I am
inputing into a spreadsheet, but no matter what I format the field to be
Excel always changes the field to either be Date, the data gets changed to
May-71, or if I force the formatting to either General or Number the data
gets changed to 79380.

I've tried this on 2 different versions of MS Office, Office 2000 Pro and
Office 2007 Pro, and get the same results from both products. Has anyone come
across this before?

Is 05-2117 some kind of internal code that Excel uses and I just can not
input that string of data into any fields at all?