Is there a format or any way to insert characters in front of numbers on Microsoft Excel? ?

Question

Is there a format or anyway to insert characters in front of numbers on Microsoft Excel?

I want to insert a manufacturer ID in front of the manufacturer's part number for instance if the Ford Crown Victoria's part number was 1234.

I would want to insert FOR in front of the 1234 to make

FOR1234.

I have the list of the manufacturer's part number and I am going to import them into Quick Books after I change the prefix.

Thanks,

Jeff

Answer 1

Combine both the above answers:

Have your Manufacturer ID in A1, Part ID in B1, and in C1 type

= A1&B1

Done

Answer 2

let's say you have your part # in A1

in B1 just type

="FOR"&A1

your result will be FOR1234

copy that formula down as far as you need to.  Then you copy all the results/formulas, and do a "paste special" and select "values" and paste it in a new column.  This will paste it as the results of the formula rather than formula itself.  Then you can delete the column with the formulas.

Answer 3

The format on a cell is the way it looks to you - it has nothing to do with how the data is actually stored in Excel.  (Enter =Now() in a cell [that's the current date and time], then format it as a number.  Now format it as a date.  Format it as a time.  You can display it as anything, but the original value doesn;t change.)

If you can put the part numbers in one column and the ID for that part number in another column, you can combine the columns into a third column using =CONCATENATE().

If A1 is FOR and B1 is 123

=CONCATENATE(A1, B1)

in C1 will give you FOR123 in C1.  Autofill column C (pull the lower-right corner of C! down as far as you need.  Column C will be filled with your "IDPartnumber" pairs - A2,B2 will appear in C2, etc.

Then copy column C and Paste Special (Values) to column D and you have a column of what you want.

Answer 4

There shouldn't be a problem, unless you've already formatted your cell to be Number. To use Alpha along with Numerics, the easiest solution is to change your Format to 'General'.

Right Click the Cell (or the Column) and select FORMAT CELLS, then under the NUMBER tab, select GENERAL and OK.