Can't store '10 cleanly

[LAS]

I have a spreadsheet where I want to store the last two digits of the year,
preceded by an apostrophe... Normal style... e.g., '10 for 2010. My older
entries look fine. But at some point no matter what I choose for format
(general, text), the little triangle appears in the upper left, there is no
apostrophe, and the dropdown that explains the triangle says "number stored
as text." How can I get back to seeing a simple " '10 "?

TIA
LAS

 

[Gord Dibben]

Several methods to do deal with this.

1. Use error check dropdown(beside cell) to "ignore error" for that cell only.

2. Disable error checking option for "number stored as text" globally in Excel
Options.

3. Turn off error checking itself in Excel Options.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

 

[Dave Peterson]

Try entering two apostrophes and then the 10.

''10

The first apostrophe will tell excel that the value should be treated as text.
The second apostrophe will appear in the cell.