How can I stop excel from editting my content?

[dumbexcel]

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I just want excel to show exactly what I type, be it a number, or a date. But somehow it keeps changing stuff for me and it is driving me nuts! For example, I type in 01/09 and I want it to show exactly that, but excel keeps changing it into 09-Jan. Tried 0109 and that didn't work either...Please, how can I stop excel from changing my content? Thanks!

J

 

[CyberTaz]

You need to spend some time in Excel Help exploring the subject of
Formatting Cells... Formatting determines how cell content is displayed.

What you are entering - 01/09 - is a Date & is being displayed accordingly,
but If you want it to display as entered [assuming it is intended to be a
date] you need to use a Custom Format of mm/yy. If it isn't a date you need
to format the cell as Text.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Harvey Waxman]

You need to spend some time in Excel Help exploring the subject of
Formatting Cells... Formatting determines how cell content is displayed.

What you are entering - 01/09 - is a Date & is being displayed accordingly,
but If you want it to display as entered [assuming it is intended to be a
date] you need to use a Custom Format of mm/yy. If it isn't a date you need
to format the cell as Text.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I just want excel to show exactly what I type, be it a number, or a date.
But
somehow it keeps changing stuff for me and it is driving me nuts! For
example,
I type in 01/09 and I want it to show exactly that, but excel keeps
changing
it into 09-Jan. Tried 0109 and that didn't work either...Please, how can I
stop excel from changing my content? Thanks!

J

What about entering an apostrophe or a space as the first character in
the cell?

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

You need to spend some time in Excel Help exploring the subject of
Formatting Cells... Formatting determines how cell content is displayed.

What you are entering - 01/09 - is a Date & is being displayed accordingly,
but If you want it to display as entered [assuming it is intended to be a
date] you need to use a Custom Format of mm/yy. If it isn't a date you need
to format the cell as Text.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I just want excel to show exactly what I type, be it a number, or a date. But
somehow it keeps changing stuff for me and it is driving me nuts! For
example,
I type in 01/09 and I want it to show exactly that, but excel keeps changing
it into 09-Jan. Tried 0109 and that didn't work either...Please, how can I
stop excel from changing my content? Thanks!

J

Or, instead of what Bob Jones said, you can alternately tae an apostrophe as
the first character, like '01/09 The apostrophe will not show in the cell,
and the value will be treated as text regardless of the cell's format.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Harvey - The apostrophe I can agree on as it's simply a means of marking
the content as text... *IF* the OP isn't concerned about the entry no longer
being treated as a DATE.

The "space" option, however, I can't endorse as the space is treated as a
literal character which can complicate things & create problems further down
the road.

--
Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

You need to spend some time in Excel Help exploring the subject of
Formatting Cells... Formatting determines how cell content is displayed.

What you are entering - 01/09 - is a Date & is being displayed
accordingly,
but If you want it to display as entered [assuming it is intended to be a
date] you need to use a Custom Format of mm/yy. If it isn't a date you
need
to format the cell as Text.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

Version: 2004
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I just want excel to show exactly what I type, be it a number, or a
date.
But
somehow it keeps changing stuff for me and it is driving me nuts! For
example,
I type in 01/09 and I want it to show exactly that, but excel keeps
changing
it into 09-Jan. Tried 0109 and that didn't work either...Please, how
can I
stop excel from changing my content? Thanks!

J

What about entering an apostrophe or a space as the first character in
the cell?

 

[dumbexcel]

Thanks to all for the informative answers. I formatted the cell as "text" and it did let me show the dates as I typed. However, I do want excel to treat the entries as dates because I want to sort them later on, and do some simple calculations (such as how many days lapse in between). Is there any way to make excel understand this?

 

[Harvey Waxman]

The "space" option, however, I can't endorse as the space is treated as a
literal character which can complicate things & create problems further down
the road.

Good point.

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Thanks to all for the informative answers. I formatted the cell as "text" and
it did let me show the dates as I typed. However, I do want excel to treat the
entries as dates because I want to sort them later on, and do some simple
calculations (such as how many days lapse in between). Is there any way to
make excel understand this?

Sure. DON'T format the cells as text. DON'T enter an apostrophe as the first
character. As cybertaz said, format the cells as MM/YY, or whatever
shorthand display you wish. Enter the date, make sure Excel understands it
is a date by verifying that the 4 digit year shows in the formula bar. Then
it will be displayed as you want, and calculate properly.