how can i stop excell from formatting numbers into dates?

[shad]

when i type 1-3, it auto formats and writes 1-Mar, as the date, but i want to
leave it as 1-3

 

[Dave Peterson]

format the cell as text first (format|cells|number tab|Text)

or start with an apostrophe:

'1-3

 

[dave22q]

use custom opion in format cells to provide the dash, eg # - #
would translate input 14 to display of 1 - 4 and still allow calcs
using the value which still is 14

 

[dave22q]

use custom option in format cells to provide the dash, eg # - #
would translate input 14 to display of 1 - 4 and still allow calc
using the value which still is 1

 

[Guest]

type it as

'1-3

or change the format of the cell to text...