I just went through a labourous procedure of transfering data from Notepad
into Excel (PDF documents had previously been converted to Notepad to extract
text). I used the MID function to extract the specific number I needed from
all the extranious data from the copy/paste. I now have all this wonderful
data that I need to tabulate but I realize now it is all text that looks like
numbers. I cannot perform any math functions and when I try to format the
cells to convert to numbers it does not work.

Please tell me that there is a way to convert this text to real numbers!

I should also mention I am using Excel 97

"Barb" wrote:

I just went through a labourous procedure of transfering data from Notepad
into Excel (PDF documents had previously been converted to Notepad to extract
text). I used the MID function to extract the specific number I needed from
all the extranious data from the copy/paste. I now have all this wonderful
data that I need to tabulate but I realize now it is all text that looks like
numbers. I cannot perform any math functions and when I try to format the
cells to convert to numbers it does not work.

Please tell me that there is a way to convert this text to real numbers!

Type the number 0 in some random cell and copy it. Select the range of
pseudo-numbers you need to convert, then Edit Paste Special. Select the
radio buttons for 'add' and 'values' and click OK.

"Barb" wrote:

I just went through a labourous procedure of transfering data from Notepad
into Excel (PDF documents had previously been converted to Notepad to extract
text). I used the MID function to extract the specific number I needed from
all the extranious data from the copy/paste. I now have all this wonderful
data that I need to tabulate but I realize now it is all text that looks like
numbers. I cannot perform any math functions and when I try to format the
cells to convert to numbers it does not work.

Please tell me that there is a way to convert this text to real numbers!

Put

+0 1* or -- in front of your mid formula, maybe also a trim to get rid of
unwanted spaces

=--(TRIM(your_formula))


--
Regards,

Peo Sjoblom

(No private emails please)


"Barb" wrote in message
...
I should also mention I am using Excel 97

"Barb" wrote:

I just went through a labourous procedure of transfering data from
Notepad
into Excel (PDF documents had previously been converted to Notepad to
extract
text). I used the MID function to extract the specific number I needed
from
all the extranious data from the copy/paste. I now have all this
wonderful
data that I need to tabulate but I realize now it is all text that looks
like
numbers. I cannot perform any math functions and when I try to format
the
cells to convert to numbers it does not work.

Please tell me that there is a way to convert this text to real numbers!

Hi!

Whenever you use the TEXT functions like Left, Right, Mid, and Substitute to
extract numbers from a string the returned value is always TEXT but you can
manipulate that value into a numeric number by using a simple math
operation.

A1 = 100 lbs.

You want to extract 100 and be able to use it in other calcs:

=LEFT(A1,3)*1

Biff

"Barb" wrote in message
...
I just went through a labourous procedure of transfering data from Notepad
into Excel (PDF documents had previously been converted to Notepad to
extract
text). I used the MID function to extract the specific number I needed
from
all the extranious data from the copy/paste. I now have all this
wonderful
data that I need to tabulate but I realize now it is all text that looks
like
numbers. I cannot perform any math functions and when I try to format the
cells to convert to numbers it does not work.

Please tell me that there is a way to convert this text to real numbers!