I've been working with Excel spreadsheet data created from SAP and I've
noticed that number values can't be used as-is. Also, when I try and write
an equation (ex =9*9) in one of the cells of the imported data, it doesn't
calcuate it, it just shows =9*9. The only way I can get number values to
calculate properly is by going into each cell and hitting enter.

Is there some type of formating change I can make to correct this problem?

It sounds as if you've probably got text, instead of numbers, in your cells.
This may be because you've got spaces or non-breaking spaces, or other
non-numeric characters in the cells. If they are leading or trailing
spaces, the TRIM function should remove them. Otherwise you might need
SUBSTITUTE once you've found what the stray characters are. Subsequently
you may be able to change text to numbers by either copying a blank cell &
then using Edit/ Paste Special/ Add on your range of text numbers (or
copying 1 and using Paste Special/ Multiply). Another option is Data/ Text
to columns.

Your =9*9 is showing that way because the cell is formatted as Text. Format
the cell as Number or General then re-enter the formula. F2 and enter
should do the trick.
--
David Biddulph

"Office Pro 2003 user" <Office Pro 2003
wrote in message ...
I've been working with Excel spreadsheet data created from SAP and I've
noticed that number values can't be used as-is. Also, when I try and
write
an equation (ex =9*9) in one of the cells of the imported data, it doesn't
calcuate it, it just shows =9*9. The only way I can get number values to
calculate properly is by going into each cell and hitting enter.

Is there some type of formating change I can make to correct this problem?