How do I get Excel to STOP formatting my cells?

Question

I am working on an employee shift report.I want to enter the shift times...example 7-1, 9-3 & 1-6 After I enter those numbers Excel changes them to dates...1-Jul,3-Sept .. etc. I tried changing the formatting to general but it keeps changing it.

Answer 1

Depends what version you are using 2003, but ?

1- Type in the required info in the fields.

2- Format one of the cells.

3- Copy (CTRL+C) that cell

4- Highlight all fields that you need to be formatted (text i would have thought)

5- Once highlighted right click and select 'paste special' from the list of options.

6- a box will appear allowing you to paste specific elements of the cells, select 'Format' and press ok.

You may also want to look at using validation if the input data doesn’t change.

Thanks, DG.

Answer 2

Put a single quote before the first number. Whatever you enter after the quote will be literally entered into the cell rather than "interpreted" by Excel to be something you don't want. Just remember, you won't be able to do any calculations using those cells.