(First, I'm VBA ignorant.)

I've been working on converting text strings like "SUPPX2", "PHNX3", and
"SUPP/PHNX2" into counts of services; per my examples: 2, 3, 3.

Each time I've used #s as replacements, I keep getting dates in cells that
were formatted as Text only. As described in previous posts, "1/1" becomes
"1-Jan" and "2/3" becomes "2-Mar". When I reformat the cells to Text Only,
the new dates become meaningless numbers. (I'm guessing Julian numbers for
the specified dates, but I don't read Julian and don't like having to guess
which # corresponds to the "1/1" that I wanted.) This results in my having
to undo all the work I've done, just to get back to the original.

As a result, I've been forced to locate textual replacements that wouldn't
be mistaken as numbers or Excel-recognized symbols. Example: Replacing
"SUPP"
with "-" makes "SUPPX3" into "-X3" which Excel sees as a reference to cell
X3. (Don't know why, grrr.) Changing "PHN/SUPPX2" by the same method results
in cell errors referring to invalid formulas. (double grrr.)

I finally found that "+" either singly, or in conjunction with other "+"s or
symbols (letters), does not prompt Excel to either reformat the cell or
register an error, but this leaves me with the following process: I use the
following replacements (= is used in place of "is replaced with" & "" is a
blank): "INTAKE"=""; "PHONE"="+"; "SUPP"="+"; "+X2"="++"; "+X3"="+++";
"+X4"="++++"; "+X5"="+++++"; "+/+"="++"; "+++++++++"="9"; "++++++++"="8";
"+++++++"="7"; "++++++"="6"; "+++++"="5"; "++++"="4"; "+++"="3";
"++"="2"; "+"="1".

Is there a way to force Text Only cell formatting to be maintained despite
the presence of a number pattern or number in the cell?

(I've read other posts on this issue, but I'm wondering if anything new has
been done to rectify this problem. For Microsoft: Why not exempt the Text
Only cell format from parsing or date corrections?)

Addendum: A coworker is tracking the info, and I want to avoid increasing
that person's workload.

--
Mike S.