You could prefix your entry with an apostrophe:
'/

Or you could turn off a setting
tools|Options|transition tab
clear that "Microsoft Office Excel menu key" box

bustermove wrote:

i want to type in those charachters but instead of the symol appearing in the
cell, it highlights the menu options at the top (file, edit, fav, etc). it
works if i type in the bar, or i type in the cell-delete- and then type
percent or fwd slash. Microsoft excel 2003

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Dave Peterson