Hello,
I need to format cells so that there is an * before and after the number, it
is how our scanner reads the barcode. For example, I have the numbers 1 to 5
in column A, and I copy them and paste them to column B, and change the font
to barcode. Is there are way I can format the cells so there is
automatically an * then the number * . It is easy to do it by hand for a
few, but we have serial numbers that are 10 digits long, and there are
thousands of them. Thanks in advance for any help.

On Wed, 6 Jun 2007 16:33:01 -0700, Ben wrote:

Hello,
I need to format cells so that there is an * before and after the number, it
is how our scanner reads the barcode. For example, I have the numbers 1 to 5
in column A, and I copy them and paste them to column B, and change the font
to barcode. Is there are way I can format the cells so there is
automatically an * then the number * . It is easy to do it by hand for a
few, but we have serial numbers that are 10 digits long, and there are
thousands of them. Thanks in advance for any help.

If the numbers are all ten digits, especially if some have leading 0's, you can
use this custom format:

Format/Cells/Number/Custom Type:

\*0000000000\*
--ron