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#1
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Annoying problem inserting numbers into cells
I've run into a very annoying problem that I can't seem to find a
satisfactory solution to. What I'm doing is trying to track a bunch of eBay auctions. One of the columns is for the auction number, which is a 12-digit number. I want the number to appear as that 12-digit number, and to be treated as text (not doing any calculations with it), *not* as a number. Anytime I copy and paste these numbers (from eBay web pages into Excel), Excel insists on reformatting the number as a number, even when I've formatted the cell as text. For instance, auction number 320173256337 appears as "3.2E+11". Not useful at all for my purposes. I said I formatted the cells first as text, but it seems to me that the act of pasting one of these numbers into a cell forces the cell to be formatted as a number ("general"). But if I then change the format to "text", the number still appears in exponential format. The one work-around I've found is to use the "format as" feature of the Excel I use at work. (Here at home, I've got an earlier version that doesn't have this feature.) If I tell Excel to retain the current formatting, the number then appears as a number (that is, a string of digits), like I want. Help! I've got a zillion of these to enter, and this is really slowing me down. Any help or work-arounds would be appreciated. |
#2
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.misc
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Annoying problem inserting numbers into cells
I had same annoying problem previously. One workaround I use is Number
Format-Custom and put 12-zeroes in the Type field. Hope this helps. "David Nebenzahl" wrote: I've run into a very annoying problem that I can't seem to find a satisfactory solution to. What I'm doing is trying to track a bunch of eBay auctions. One of the columns is for the auction number, which is a 12-digit number. I want the number to appear as that 12-digit number, and to be treated as text (not doing any calculations with it), *not* as a number. Anytime I copy and paste these numbers (from eBay web pages into Excel), Excel insists on reformatting the number as a number, even when I've formatted the cell as text. For instance, auction number 320173256337 appears as "3.2E+11". Not useful at all for my purposes. I said I formatted the cells first as text, but it seems to me that the act of pasting one of these numbers into a cell forces the cell to be formatted as a number ("general"). But if I then change the format to "text", the number still appears in exponential format. The one work-around I've found is to use the "format as" feature of the Excel I use at work. (Here at home, I've got an earlier version that doesn't have this feature.) If I tell Excel to retain the current formatting, the number then appears as a number (that is, a string of digits), like I want. Help! I've got a zillion of these to enter, and this is really slowing me down. Any help or work-arounds would be appreciated. |
#3
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.misc
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Annoying problem inserting numbers into cells
One way.
Preformat the cells as TEXT. Then when you copy and go to paste you should have a right mouse button menu option to paste special as either html, unicode text or text. Either one of the text options should work for you. (works for me, Excel 2002) -- Biff Microsoft Excel MVP "David Nebenzahl" wrote in message ... I've run into a very annoying problem that I can't seem to find a satisfactory solution to. What I'm doing is trying to track a bunch of eBay auctions. One of the columns is for the auction number, which is a 12-digit number. I want the number to appear as that 12-digit number, and to be treated as text (not doing any calculations with it), *not* as a number. Anytime I copy and paste these numbers (from eBay web pages into Excel), Excel insists on reformatting the number as a number, even when I've formatted the cell as text. For instance, auction number 320173256337 appears as "3.2E+11". Not useful at all for my purposes. I said I formatted the cells first as text, but it seems to me that the act of pasting one of these numbers into a cell forces the cell to be formatted as a number ("general"). But if I then change the format to "text", the number still appears in exponential format. The one work-around I've found is to use the "format as" feature of the Excel I use at work. (Here at home, I've got an earlier version that doesn't have this feature.) If I tell Excel to retain the current formatting, the number then appears as a number (that is, a string of digits), like I want. Help! I've got a zillion of these to enter, and this is really slowing me down. Any help or work-arounds would be appreciated. |
#4
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.misc
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Annoying problem inserting numbers into cells
That doesn't work for me (Excel 2002).
Custom format: 000000000000 Paste 320173256337 into the cell and it still reverts to 3.2E+11 (with a column width of 8.43 Arial font size 10). Widening the column doesn't help, either. You can also paste, still getting 3.2E+11, then format as NUMBER (no decimal places). -- Biff Microsoft Excel MVP "EK" wrote in message ... I had same annoying problem previously. One workaround I use is Number Format-Custom and put 12-zeroes in the Type field. Hope this helps. "David Nebenzahl" wrote: I've run into a very annoying problem that I can't seem to find a satisfactory solution to. What I'm doing is trying to track a bunch of eBay auctions. One of the columns is for the auction number, which is a 12-digit number. I want the number to appear as that 12-digit number, and to be treated as text (not doing any calculations with it), *not* as a number. Anytime I copy and paste these numbers (from eBay web pages into Excel), Excel insists on reformatting the number as a number, even when I've formatted the cell as text. For instance, auction number 320173256337 appears as "3.2E+11". Not useful at all for my purposes. I said I formatted the cells first as text, but it seems to me that the act of pasting one of these numbers into a cell forces the cell to be formatted as a number ("general"). But if I then change the format to "text", the number still appears in exponential format. The one work-around I've found is to use the "format as" feature of the Excel I use at work. (Here at home, I've got an earlier version that doesn't have this feature.) If I tell Excel to retain the current formatting, the number then appears as a number (that is, a string of digits), like I want. Help! I've got a zillion of these to enter, and this is really slowing me down. Any help or work-arounds would be appreciated. |
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