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: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2013-01-09T16:53:01+00:00

    Hello Ron,

    this is a hint for beginners.

    If you open or import  E.G. a csv file with excel, you have no chance to format the cells as text before. Once the file is open, the values are destroyed.

    So what we all need is a setting that avoid this tiresome function globally.

    Regard

    Josef Jenko

    MBS Ax Consultant

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2012-11-28T16:40:37+00:00

    I'm with you there. I also would like to see autoformat disabled automatically when the text option is selected in Paste Special.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2012-09-12T15:14:43+00:00

    The big problem here is that values are changed when sorted and can not be restored. I manage a lot of GIS data and must exchange between different data types. If I create a *.csv from a *.txt file and open it in Excel my values are automatically changed. 

    For example, a value "04-32" becomes "Apr-32" when sorted and after which if formatted as text (poor workaround) the value becomes "11780". My original data is lost. When is April 32 this year?

    My real question is: How do I get Excel to not automatically change cell data?

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments