How can I display symbols in phone # formatted cell when empty?

[Sandi Rutalnd]

I understand how to format the cell to display (123) 555-1234 when digits are
entered into the cell. What I'd like to do is have the ( ) & - appear when
the cell is empty. That way users will be prompted to enter the 10 digit
number.

 

[Harlan Grove]

I understand how to format the cell to display (123) 555-1234 when digits are
entered into the cell.  What I'd like to do is have the (   ) & - appear when
the cell is empty.  That way users will be prompted to enter the 10 digit
number.

Excel won't display anything in truly blank cells.

Your alternatives are to paste a picture or a picture link of a cell
containing ( ) - on top of cells that should contain phone numbers,
and use a Change event handler macro to clear the picture upon entry
of valid phone numbers; or give such cells the custom number format

[<=9999999]###-####;(###) ###-####;;"( ) - "

and enter the formula ="" into these cells, copy, then paste special
as values. The cells would then appear blank but would actually
contain literal zero-length strings, and because Excel considers them
to contain strings, it'll use the 4th bit of the number format to
display the text value of the cell. In this case, it'd display the
literal text

( ) -