You said that the cell is *custom formatted* to *display* a dash. While the
dash is *displayed* it is not part of the true underlying value of the cell.
Using data validation prevents a user from actually entering a dash in the
cell.

If you use data validation and enter a "-" in the cell you'll get the error
message. If you enter something without a "-" nothing will happen, no error
message.


--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"Frustrated in AZ" wrote in
message ...
I will try this. But can you read it to me in laymans terms, just I have a
better understanding?
THANK YOU!

"T. Valko" wrote:

Try this:

DataValidationAllowCustom

Formula: =ISERROR(FIND("-",A1))

--
Biff
Microsoft Excel MVP


"Frustrated in AZ" <Frustrated in wrote in
message ...
I have a speadsheet I am working on and would like some cells to be
"formatted" so when the user enters a number it will only accept it one
way.
For example:
If the user enters the case number as 081234, the cell is currently
formatted to accept it as 08-1234 (I set this up under
FormatCellsNumberCustom, which works). However, if the user enters
the
case number WITH the hyphen I would like to use the DataValidation
feature
so an error alert pops up letting them know that no hyphen is needed.
I
was
able to set this up, but if I enter the case with OR without the hyphen
I
get
an error message for both, instead of just when using the hyphen. I
see
there is also a space to enter a formula under DataValidation but,
unfortunately, I do not understand formulas very well. Can somebody
please
help? Thank you!