I am trying to make all of the cells in a particular column (they are filled
with numbers) alphanumeric and left justified by putting a single quote in
front of each cell. I don't want to type the quote on each cell. How can I
do this without typing in each cell?

1. Select the column that you want to modify. You can do this by clicking on the column letter at the top of the sheet.
2. Right-click on the selected column and choose "Format Cells" from the context menu.
3. In the "Format Cells" dialog box, select the "Custom" category.
4. In the "Type" field, enter a single quote followed by the format code for the type of data you want to display. For example, if you want to display numbers as text, enter "'0" (without the quotes). If you want to display dates as text, enter "'dd/mm/yyyy" (without the quotes).
5. Click "OK" to apply the formatting to the selected column.

Now, every cell in the selected column will display its contents as text, left-justified with a single quote at the beginning of the cell. You don't need to manually type the quote in each cell - Excel will automatically add it for you based on the formatting you applied.

Insert a column next to the col ; enter the below formula; copy down as
required.
=CHAR(39) & A1

Would be interesting to know what you are looking at...

If this post helps click Yes
---------------
Jacob Skaria


"Cindy" wrote:

I am trying to make all of the cells in a particular column (they are filled
with numbers) alphanumeric and left justified by putting a single quote in
front of each cell. I don't want to type the quote on each cell. How can I
do this without typing in each cell?

Do you really need the apostrophe?
a) select he cells and use Format | Cells | Text
OR
b) select the cells and click the left align tool

best wishes
--
Bernard V Liengme
Microsoft Excel MVP
http://people.stfx.ca/bliengme
remove caps from email


"Cindy" wrote in message
...
I am trying to make all of the cells in a particular column (they are
filled
with numbers) alphanumeric and left justified by putting a single quote in
front of each cell. I don't want to type the quote on each cell. How can
I
do this without typing in each cell?