Help menu directs me to Format cells, where I am supposed to click and
find and select other options. There are none. Opened a blank
worksheet, followed these instructions and the other options appear.
Not understanding what the problem is, I stumbled upons something that
ultimately reinstalled Excel 2K hoping that if I had some how turned
off this feature for this worksheet, it would be restored. No luck.
What is happening?

Thanks,
Trudy


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lburg801
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Not sure exactly what you're trying to do with the zip codes....but
generally the issue is that the first zero doesn't stay after you type
it in (or import). If you highlight an area, use the "format" menu,
select "cells" and then on the "number" tab, select "text" to preserve
all characters you type, including zero. If you're importing, then you
need to specify the column to be imported as text.
Hope this helps,
Phillycheese


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Phillycheese5 Wrote:
Not sure exactly what you're trying to do with the zip codes....but
generally the issue is that the first zero doesn't stay after you type
it in (or import). If you highlight an area, use the "format" menu,
select "cells" and then on the "number" tab, select "text" to preserve
all characters you type, including zero. If you're importing, then you
need to specify the column to be imported as text.
Hope this helps,
Phillycheese

This is what Help tells me to do "Show numbers as a postal code, Social
Security number, or phone number
Select the cells you want to format.


On the Format menu, click Cells, and then click the Number tab.
Show Me

In the Category list, click Special, and then select the format you
want to use. "

I have inherited this job on an emergency basis and trying to learn as
I go. I think I may have done a general format for all columns,
regarding them as text, and in doing so seem to have changed someting
that created data for barcodes.

Thus I though that since zip-codes are handled in a special way by
Excel, I would return that format for that column. However, when I go
to FormatCells, there is no arrow indicating there is a menu for this
item, and indeed, when I click on it, it nothing happens.

On the other hand, if I bring up a totally new worksheet, all the steps
described by Help exist.

And as a newbie to this forum as well as Excel, can you tell me if I am
supposed to enter infor for Title once again, as there is a blank for
this. Hoping I'm doing the right thing by ignoring it, I plan to simply
respond.


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lburg801
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Is your sheet protected? If it is, the Cells option on the Format menu
would be grayed out and would not respond to a click.

Click on Tools menu, then Options, then Unprotect. You may have to
supply a password.

Click on Tools menu, then Options, then Unprotect.

No need to click on Options. Protection is right on the Tools
menu.


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Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com




"DOR" wrote in message
oups.com...
Is your sheet protected? If it is, the Cells option on the
Format menu
would be grayed out and would not respond to a click.

Click on Tools menu, then Options, then Unprotect. You may
have to
supply a password.

OOOPS! Thank you Chip, I meant Protection, not Options ...

First, thanks to everyone who has tried to help. Here are the conditions
I have encountered - Protection= all options flat and not selectable. In
a blank work sheet, all are, and it is also possible to bring up a
window with lots of opions to select for the type of data that will be
in that cell. BUT NOT IN THIS WORKSHEET. A little background - the
chruch secretary died and I am trying to help out in a crisis. Back in
the dark ages, I was a SAS programmer but as a result of brain trauma,
have only the memory of work that brought me much satisfaction.
Nonetheless, I still have that problem solving instinct that says
surely, with this worksheet that is basically a text database, I should
be able to ..... alas, I am stumped. Interestingly, at the bottom of the
Format menu is an item called style. There were only a few styles from
which to choose, but at the bottom of that window, one of the things
that could be selected (or not) was protection or lock. Maybe this
information will be of interest to you. What I have had to do is create
a database from scratch so as not to import any problems. Glad this
isn't a huge church. It will be a long night.

Trudy


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