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Need some excel spreadsheet help

by gjd6599
9 replies
When I use excel I make a bunch of vertical column's for different info. Excel names them a,b,c and so on. I use these spreadsheets to keep data on my sites. In some of the column's I can put whatever I want, like 12, or 12-9 or text, or whatever without any problem, but in other columns, it will take that same info and change it to, Dec/9 or 9-Dec or ####, or something else that I don't want.

How can I make it stop making unwanted changes, and just leave what I put in the boxes. I have tried to find the solution, with no success.

Thanks
Glenn
#excel #spreadsheet
  • Profile picture of the author John Cabral
    Originally Posted by gjd6599 View Post

    When I use excel I make a bunch of vertical column's for different info. Excel names them a,b,c and so on. I use these spreadsheets to keep data on my sites. In some of the column's I can put whatever I want, like 12, or 12-9 or text, or whatever without any problem, but in other columns, it will take that same info and change it to, Dec/9 or 9-Dec or ####, or something else that I don't want.

    How can I make it stop making unwanted changes, and just leave what I put in the boxes. I have tried to find the solution, with no success.

    Thanks
    Glenn
    #### means that the info on your cell is bigger than the cell and you need to expand the cell/ column. You also want to check the cell format as it can effect what you enter.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nigels
    Originally Posted by gjd6599 View Post

    When I use excel I make a bunch of vertical column's for different info. Excel names them a,b,c and so on. I use these spreadsheets to keep data on my sites. In some of the column's I can put whatever I want, like 12, or 12-9 or text, or whatever without any problem, but in other columns, it will take that same info and change it to, Dec/9 or 9-Dec or ####, or something else that I don't want.

    How can I make it stop making unwanted changes, and just leave what I put in the boxes. I have tried to find the solution, with no success.
    By default Excel will guess what format you want data to be when you enter it. In the example above, Excel is guessing that when you enter 12-9 you are entering a date and would like it to be shown as a date. There are two easy ways ways to solve your problem. The first is to preface what you enter with a ' which says that the data is text. Excel will not attempt to re-format it then.

    The second option is to highlight a range of cells you want to work with and change the format explicitly to text via the menu which you can call up with the right mouse button. Everything you put in those cells will then be text and not changed.
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    • Profile picture of the author diymCoach
      Very well explained.
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      • Profile picture of the author gjd6599
        Thanks for all the help. Nigels answer was right on target. Highlight the box, or sheet you want to stay as text, and use the right mouse button to select text.

        I can't believe I didn't think to try that. That's why I like the warrior forum.

        Thanks Glenn
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        • Profile picture of the author Nigels
          Originally Posted by gjd6599 View Post

          Thanks for all the help. Nigels answer was right on target. Highlight the box, or sheet you want to stay as text, and use the right mouse button to select text.

          I can't believe I didn't think to try that. That's why I like the warrior forum.

          Thanks Glenn
          Thanks for the PM Glenn. Unfortunately I don't have enough posts to send a reply via PM, but I appreciate the courtesy.

          I've spent quite a bit of time on Excel over the years and I'm happy to chip in with any relevant help.
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    • Profile picture of the author SrinivasPrabhakar
      Originally Posted by Nigels View Post

      By default Excel will guess what format you want data to be when you enter it. In the example above, Excel is guessing that when you enter 12-9 you are entering a date and would like it to be shown as a date. There are two easy ways ways to solve your problem. The first is to preface what you enter with a ' which says that the data is text. Excel will not attempt to re-format it then.

      The second option is to highlight a range of cells you want to work with and change the format explicitly to text via the menu which you can call up with the right mouse button. Everything you put in those cells will then be text and not changed.

      I also have excel related query I have a excel file with details of person first, last name city etc... first name and last name are in different columns. I want them to put together in one column with a space in between. I know there is some kind of formula can be used but I am not which one.
      Please help me too. Thanks in advance.
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      • Profile picture of the author John Cabral
        Originally Posted by SrinivasPrabhakar View Post

        I also have excel related query I have a excel file with details of person first, last name city etc... first name and last name are in different columns. I want them to put together in one column with a space in between. I know there is some kind of formula can be used but I am not which one.
        Please help me too. Thanks in advance.
        Well You have a few options here. One is a pain in the butt as it involves copy & paste and the other involves combing the two using a formula.

        You can use this =+A4&" " &B4 in the column you want the combines name with the space between. of course the cell references will be different but formula is the same.
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  • Profile picture of the author SrinivasPrabhakar
    Thank you very much John for your help. You are right copy & paste is not possible as the data is in thousands. It is not possible to do it manually.

    I applied the formula and yes it works fine. Once again thank you for your help.
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    • Profile picture of the author John Cabral
      Originally Posted by SrinivasPrabhakar View Post

      Thank you very much John for your help. You are right copy & paste is not possible as the data is in thousands. It is not possible to do it manually.

      I applied the formula and yes it works fine. Once again thank you for your help.
      Glad I could help out. I have 20 years using spreadsheets so most things are easy for me and I am always glad to help whenever I can.
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