Does anyone know how to use Microsoft Excel?

Question

I'm at work trying to enter some serial numbers into a spreadsheet. The original document was sent to me, and I just have to plug in the numbers. The problem is, when I enter in a number starting with a zero, when I move onto the next cell it deletes the zero. I need the zero's to stay in for this purpose or the number is useless. Does anyone know how I can change this?

Thanks everyone who answered. The zero's aren't going away anymore! Thanks!

Answer 1

To have excel accept the information exactly as you type it in, you have to tell excel the catagory of what type of information you are entering. Its easy...

(1)Select the range of cells you want to change the format of, (2)Press the FORMAT menu at the top of the screen and select "Cells...", (3)Make sure the "Number" tab is selected and you will see a catagory list on the right, (4)Lastly select TEXT (in this situation) and excel will let you enter anything without auto correcting.

There are many other catagories to choose from that excel can use to identify the information you are entering. Most are self explanatory. Just experiment... :D

Answer 2

If you can change the cell format from "General" to "Text", the leading 0 should remain in the cell. Select the cell range or the column the cells are in and choose to format the cells.

Answer 3

You might want to format the cell, so that it is a number instead of a general text. You might also want to configure how many decimal places you want. You can configure the cell, by right clicking the cell, and going to format cell. For more Excel tips go to www.mrexcel.com

Answer 4

Type a ' or " before the number so that it knows to use it as text and number number. Each one denotes that it's text you're entering and determines the alignmnent left or right.

Answer 5

Highlight the column the in question by clicking the letter up top.
Then right click the column and choose "Format" - next select "Text" as the format type.