How to stop the auto-format of dates?

[PSiegmann]

Hi,

first of all, I am an absolute excel novice and never used it until
today, so, forgive me if my question is stupid (for an
experiencedExcel user)

OK, the problem is simple, I want to insert the following value into a
cell: 1/08 . But excel changes it always into a date. It becomes "01
Aug", and if I double click on it, it becomes "01.08.2009". How to
stop this auto-correction?

My "1/08" is not a date, but a transaction number, so a auto
transformation of that value is not wanted.

I am using Excel 2007

 

[T. Valko]

Excel is trying to be helpful!

You can't turn this off. What you can do is either preformat the cell as
TEXT before you type in the data or, precede the data with an apostrophe
like this: '1/08. The apostrophe will not be displayed in the cell.

 

[Sheeloo]

Enter ' and then enter 1/08
or format the cell as text first and then enter 1/08

 

[Suleman Peerzade]

Hi,

Right click on the cell go to format and on the number tab select "general"
and close this will solve the issue.

or simply enter an apostrophe (') and then go ahead with the data typing.

 

[David Biddulph]

Are you sure that Excel 2007 behaves that way for a cell formatted as
General? Do you suggest doing it before or after entering the data?
I thought that Excel 2007 would behave the same as earlier versions and that
you'd need to format as Text (not General) and do it *before* you enter the
data.
Formatting as General before entering the data would allow the input to be
treated as a date, and formatting afterwards converts the date to a number
in Excel's date system (so 01.08.2009 would become 40026).

The apostrophe method does indeed tell Excel to treat the data as text.

 

[Sheeloo]

Excel 2007 behavior for GENERAL format is same as it was in Excel 2003.

General setting will change 1/08 to a date as it would in Excel 2003.

 

[AA]

This "feature" has never seemed helpful, and indeed it is not. So we are sure
that this cannot be changed...