Cell formatting problem, Excel 97

[MIS_flunky]

I am encountering a problem with Excel 97 which is being used by th
executive vice-president of our company, and I would appreciate an
guidance in solving this problem.

She is inputting data into a worksheet she created by typing it in
"NN/NN" format, and would like to see it appear like this. Certai
cells she types into display the data correctly. However, other cell
automatically re-format the text into some variation of a date format
If you click on "Tools" and select "Format cells" and change th
formatting, it is not a permanent change; if you type any new data int
that cell, it reverts back to the incorrect formatting.

I had noticed that cell formatting had been locked, so I turned it off
This, however, did not fix the problem. I have not seen any sign of th
sheet itself being locked to protect it from changes. For the time
I've given her the temporary fix of typing an apostrophe befor
inputting her data, thus forcing Excel to take the typed character
exactly as she inputs them. This is only a band-aid fix, though, an
she'd like the spreadsheet fixed so that she doesn't have to go throug
this.

I've exhausted every manner I know to check this sheet, and a
convinced that something accidentally got set. Can anyone possibly she
some light on this?

Thanks in advance for any and all assistance

 

[borkot01]

Try edit copy - paste special - formats

 

[MIS_flunky]

I have tried this as you suggested... sorry, but it didn't work.

Thanks anyway.

:

 

[Dave Peterson]

Try preformatting the cell (whole column???) as Text--not General, not Number.

It does the same thing as the leading apostrophe but saves the typing.