Numbers formatted at text

C

Carolyn Layton

I am having a problem converting text fields to number
fields in Excel XP. I have to go into each field and edit
it to convert a text field to a number. Changing the
formatting of a column does not work. Does anyone else
have this problem, or a way to make the automatic
formatting work?
 
J

J.E. McGimpsey

Number formats have no effect on Text (as you've discovered). You
need to force XL to coerce the "text numbers" into real numbers. One
way:

Set the format of your range to General or another number format.
Copy an empty cell. Select the cells to be coerced. Choose
Edit/Paste Special, selecting the Add and Values radio buttons.
Click OK.
 
B

bruce

use the value function

=value(A1)
-----Original Message-----
Number formats have no effect on Text (as you've discovered). You
need to force XL to coerce the "text numbers" into real numbers. One
way:

Set the format of your range to General or another number format.
Copy an empty cell. Select the cells to be coerced. Choose
Edit/Paste Special, selecting the Add and Values radio buttons.
Click OK.



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