global changes from alpha to numeric

[jdavis777]

I have large strings of numbers that need to be keyed into my worksheet and in order to save time, would like to assign an alpha character so I can just go back and do a "Replace All" by changing the alpha back to the string of numbers it represents. It works okay if there are less than 10 digits in the column but once I exceed 9 digits, it changes the number to look something like this - 1.000000+E14. I don't know if there are limitations or not but if anyone knows how to make this work, it would greatly reduce the need to data entry a large amount of data.

Thanks!

Jeff

 

[DDM]

jdavis, go ahead and do your replace, then select the cells and format them
as Number, rather than the default General.

You may be able to prevent Excel from formatting the numbers in scientific
notation if, before entering the data, you format the cells as Number and
widen the column (in my light testing I was able to replace a single letter
with 12 digits with no problem).

The limit, BTW, is 15 significant digits.

--
DDM
"DDM's Microsoft Office Tips and Tricks"
Visit us at www.ddmcomputing.com

I have large strings of numbers that need to be keyed into my worksheet

and in order to save time, would like to assign an alpha character so I can
just go back and do a "Replace All" by changing the alpha back to the string
of numbers it represents. It works okay if there are less than 10 digits in
the column but once I exceed 9 digits, it changes the number to look
something like this - 1.000000+E14. I don't know if there are limitations
or not but if anyone knows how to make this work, it would greatly reduce
the need to data entry a large amount of data.

 

[CLR]

An alternative might be to use VLOOKUP to get your long strings instead of
"Find and Replace"

Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3

I have large strings of numbers that need to be keyed into my worksheet

and in order to save time, would like to assign an alpha character so I can
just go back and do a "Replace All" by changing the alpha back to the string
of numbers it represents. It works okay if there are less than 10 digits in
the column but once I exceed 9 digits, it changes the number to look
something like this - 1.000000+E14. I don't know if there are limitations
or not but if anyone knows how to make this work, it would greatly reduce
the need to data entry a large amount of data.