This gives ok results to look at, but remember that the value in cell isn't
always what you see!

It can make divising formulas more difficult along with Edit|Find's...I know
it's there, I can see it...why can't excel find it...



Cheri wrote:

I had a similar question the other day but cannot find my post...go figure!

Anyway, your custom formatting example is EXACTLY the info I was looking
for!!! This is absolutely awesome, quick, no extra steps required...PERFECT!
Thank you so much for posting.

"Dave Peterson" wrote:

You could use a custom format of:
"E33213"@"OP5"

It'll be up to you to type exactly two characters.

And the value of the cell will not include those special formatting characters.

JG wrote:

I need to enter over 200 serial numbers into Excel.

They all start with the same 6 characters and all end in the same 3 like so:
E33213**0P5

Can I format the cells so that I only have to input the 2 middle characters
and Excel will auto fill the other information?

The 2 characters I need to enter are letters, not numbers.

I tried the following without any luck:
E33213??0P5
E33213##0P5

--

Dave Peterson


--

Dave Peterson