I have the opposite problem. I have thousands of SSNs in the 123-45-6789
format which I want as a number in the format 123456789. I have tried custom
formatting(000000000), changing text to columns and then joining the three
separate cells into one. EX: 012-01-0123 becomes 121123, even with each cell
having custom formatting applied.

As ClairView wrote: Please, what am I doing wrong?!!

"ClaireView" wrote:

I have thousands of SSNs that imported to my Excel 2002 document without
formatting. I would like to change them from "123456789" to "123-45-6789."
I researched this, and other postings here instructed me to create a new
column, format the new cells to "Special / Social Security Number," then copy
the unformatted cells using Paste Special and choose Add. This doesn't work.
The format still says it's in SSN format, but the numbers are still
123456789. Please, what am I doing wrong?!!