Thanks, Tyro! Formatting the cells as Text solved my problem and I will try
to keep your other tip in mind for future use.

"Tyro" wrote:

You have 2 choices. Format the cell as TEXT prior to entering 12-14 or enter
the 12-14 as '12-14. The apostrophe makes what follows it text. The General
format means basically text will be left justified and numbers will be right
justified.

Tyro

"MET" wrote in message
...
I want to format a column to not automatically convert the numbers I'm
entering into a date. I highlight the column and click on "format cells".
On the Number tab I click on General which states "General format cells
have
no specific number format" and then I click on OK. This is what I think I
want. But when I enter "12-14" in one of the cells, it converts it to
"14-Dec".