Stop auto correction of number into a date

Anonymous
2010-04-09T11:08:55+00:00

When i work with excel, i do data entry, some of the numbers that i type in can be interpenetrated  as dates. when this happens excel automatically changes the format of the cell from general, to date. i want to be able to stop this auto correction.

I know there are a number of ways to avoid this happening, but i am fed up with these methods. i simply what to turn the auto correct off, so that instead of what i type into the cell changing, what i type into the cell shows exactly what i typed in.

really hope there is someone out the who knows how to do this.

thanks

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2010-04-09T17:09:58+00:00

If you format the cells as Text, all entries will be entered as text

(leading zeroes will be retain, date-like values won't be converted to dates, etc)

...CTRL+1 (to view the formatting dialog window)

...Select: Number_tab...Category: Text

That should resolve most (but not all) of the problem.

Does that work for you?

Ron Coderre

Microsoft MVP - Excel (2006 - 2010)

P.S. If any post answers your question, please mark it as the Answer (so it won't keep showing as an open item.)

Was this answer helpful?

60+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2010-04-09T16:55:47+00:00

Tim

I understand your frustration but this is not an autocorrect issue. 

Typing in 1/5 will automatically be recognised as a date as that is what it is unless... you signify that it is a formula and you expect the answer 0.2 to appear or it is a text item in which case you must preceed the data with a ' apostrophy.

In signifying the that the item is text you will have a data item which is left aligned, as all text is by default.  All other items in this column (even if purely numeric such as product codes) should aligned left.  Product codes though numeric should never be treaded like numbers, if you do, then expect issues.  Telephone numbers are similarly not true numbers, if they were treated as such, leading zeros would be dropped.

Though the whole idea of having to type in that extra character of ' is a pain to remember, it will make your data more acurate, reliable and portable.

Pat PS If you found this useful please vote. Thank you:¬)

Was this answer helpful?

40+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

311 additional answers

Sort by: Newest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2016-07-05T22:21:21+00:00

    CesarSanchez10

    Some of the data I have available comes right out of our ERP software. It's auto-saved to an Excel file when we need that data, that's all that is available. There's no "Importing" or preformatting columns... I have ways to get around these errors but those solutions are NEVER pretty and they always force me to do a lot of extra work. Fortunately, I have enough tools to utilize.

    One thing that's helped a lot is to use the Power Query plugin for Excel. It's a Microsoft product (Free download) and it's similar to using an ODBC connection to a file but adds a layer of control before the data is pulled in. Give it a try. There's also Power Query but I don't use that much.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2016-07-05T21:04:49+00:00

    I know when to use a database and I am able to do this. Lets see how well that suggestion of yours works in an actual company where people are just trying to share data between each other. Your suggestion CANNOT work. Databases are not freely passed around. Of course the data may be exported but eventually, someone is going to need to manipulate that data in Excel. When they do, they WILL run into this issue.   ****

    Thank you. This is exactly what I am referring to. I'm hoping no one here is using excel as a database lol

    I know how to manipulate data, I use Oracle and SQL and have been using for years.

    The problem arises, that not every person in a company has access to that software. Especially if your company is 50,000 + and work with different departments.

    I use excel primarily to manipulate the data I've collected from different DataBases to create a simpler version of the data by having Pivot charts,tables,dynamic data and macros. However, this become extremely difficult when Excel still has the formatting bug.

    I am a systems engineer, and I can tell you that this BUG affects every type of department FROM TOP TO BOTTOM once in a while.

    It's time consuming and more importantly, there's still not a solid solution.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2016-07-05T20:10:53+00:00

    I envision having an Auto-formatting area in the "Options" section where users would check the types of auto-formatting that pertains to each user's needs.

    Given that I've been dealing with this bug for more that 12 years, I don't see it going away but I still have hope.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments