I am attempting to take a label with numbers and dashes and remove the
dashes, so I can convert the labels to the same format as my source file in a
VLOOKUP. I'm using the following formula:
=CONCATENATE("'",left(a1,1),mid(a1,3,5),mid(a1,10, 3),right(a1,1), which takes
0-16830-400-7, and converts it to '0168304007. The problem is, the VLOOKUP
doesn't work until I value the formula, then hit F2 and F9 to convert it to a
label. The problem is the ' symbol, which shows in the cell until I hit F2 &
F9. If I don't put the ' symbol into the CONCATENATE formula, CONCATENATE
converts the 0168304007 to a value and removes the leading zero. My source
file is a label that contains a leading zero.

Is there a better way to do this conversion? If not, is there a way to
change the result to a label without manually hitting F2 & F9. I'm
converting a few thousand labels, so doing this manually would be a nightmare.