You sure that the character wasn't a backslash (\) with:
tools|options|transition tab|transition navigation keys
checked.

You could try:
type the character(s) in the cell.
Format|cells|alignment tab|Horizontal Text Alignment box|Fill



holhol1214 wrote:

In older versions of excel the ' character could be used as the first
character in a cell to mke the following character repeat itself throughout
the cell. This command no loner works. What command was used to replace it?

--

Dave Peterson