Hi guys,
Firstly I apologise if something like this has already been covered but I
have been unable to find anything related.

I'm continuously adding to an ongoing spreadsheet with a range of data at
work and have been trying to make the process a little easier/quicker. One
of the data values is an ID number in the following format "AHPL-000#-####"
where the AHPL and the 0's are constant and the #'s are variable numbers.
Would anyone know how to make excell auto format cells like this? For
example, would it be possible to simply type five numbers (corresponding to
the #'s) and have it come out looking like the above?

I've tried modifying an existing format under 'Custom' in the 'Format Cells'
window and entered 'AHPL-000#-####' but an error occurs saying that Office
Excel cannot use the number format you typed.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.