"Conan Kelly" wrote in message
...
Hello all,

(XL & AC 2003)

I copied data from an AC query, pasted it into a blank XL sheet. I set
all of the values to this number format:

_(* #,##0.00_);_(* (#,##0.00);_(* "-"??_);_(@_)
(the standard Accounting format, I think)

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this number format supposed to take
into account the parens and space positive numbers so the digits & decimal
places will line up? In other words, "0.00" should be spaced out from the
right edge of the cell the width of one closing paren, thus the zeroes &
decimal point in "0.00" should line up with the zeros & decimal point in
"(0.00)".

After applying this format, the positive numbers are not spaced out from
the right edge of the cell.

Has pasting data from AC somehow messed up the formats/alignment/some
other setting?

Thanks for any help anyone can provide,

Conan Kelly


Have you checked the format AFTER pasting? If you paste data in from
anywhere (whether it's elsewhere in the spreadsheet or from an external
source) you will overwrite the format. Instead you can use Paste Special
Values.

The other possibility is that you have pasted text rather than numeric
values. This often seems to happen when bringing data in from an external
source. If the data is text, no amount of formatting will help you. You
would need to convert to numbers first and then apply your accounting
format.

You can check to see if you have text using a formula like =ISTEXT(A1). If
this gives TRUE, you can often convert to numbers as follows. Put the number
1 in a spare cell somewhere - a cell NOT formatted as text. Copy this cell.
Select the area where you data are and use
Edit Paste Special Multiply. (You can then delete the number 1 in the
spare cell.)