I write a number range - e.g. 5-10 (as in "five to ten"), and Excel
automatically turns it into a date (e.g. May 5th). How do I stop this
irritating function? (If I wanted to write a date I'm not so stupid I
couldn't just write it.)

hi Carter,

you can preceed by typing a " ' " a single quote befre typing 5-10 excel
will recognise it as a text.

else right click on the range where you planning to type the numbers and go
oto properties and convert the cell format to text.

It willl then only display as 5-10

"Carter" wrote:

I write a number range - e.g. 5-10 (as in "five to ten"), and Excel
automatically turns it into a date (e.g. May 5th). How do I stop this
irritating function? (If I wanted to write a date I'm not so stupid I
couldn't just write it.)

precede it with a single quote (which won't show):
'5-10
Bob Umlas
Excel MVP

"Carter" wrote in message
...
I write a number range - e.g. 5-10 (as in "five to ten"), and Excel
automatically turns it into a date (e.g. May 5th). How do I stop this
irritating function? (If I wanted to write a date I'm not so stupid I
couldn't just write it.)