One common problem experienced by Microsoft Excel users is the automatic conversion of data into date format. This typically happens when you are working with numbers that Excel misinterprets as a date. For instance, if you enter “1-3” in a cell, Excel automatically converts it to “1-Mar”. Fear not, there’s a solution for this. In this blog post, we will guide you through the steps to stop Excel from auto-formatting text to date.
1. Change the format of the cells
Before entering your data, you can change the cell format to Text. Here’s how to do it:
1. Select the cells that you want to enter numbers, dates, or times. 2. Right-click the selected cells, and then click Format Cells. 3. Under Category, click Text, and then click OK.
Now you can type numbers, dates, or times without Excel changing them to dates.
2. Use an Apostrophe
If you input an apostrophe before the data, Excel will treat the data as text, and it won’t auto-format it. For example, entering ‘1-3 will keep it as 1-3.
3. Import data from a CSV file
If you are importing data from a CSV file, you can specify the column’s data type. Follow these steps:
1. Open a new workbook. 2. Go to Data > From Text. 3. Import the CSV file using the Import Wizard. 4. In step 3 of the wizard, under column data format, select Text for the columns you want to import as text. 5. Click Finish.
This way, your data will be imported as text and not be converted into dates.
4. Stop Excel from changing numbers to dates permanently
You can change the Excel options to stop it from converting numbers to dates permanently. Do the following:
1. Go to File - Options. 2. Select Advanced. 3. Scroll down to the section "When calculating this workbook". 4. Uncheck the box "Transition formula evaluation". 5. Click OK.
Now Excel will no longer auto-format numbers to dates.
Hopefully, this guide helps you prevent Excel from automatically converting text to date. Remember, every problem has a solution, and with the right steps, you can stop Excel from changing your data!
