"Man T" <alanpltse_NOSPAM@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:O5a1lKo2IHA.548@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>I have a sequence of digits like
> 5026555306553
>
> I entered in a cell and when the cursor left the cell it displays as
> 5.02656E+12
>
> How do I set the cell or the whole spreadsheet to display as text rather
> than this format?
>
Please note that this is a group concerning Windows XP, not spreadsheet
applications. If you're using Excel, further questions should be directed to
an appropriate newsgroup, eg microsoft.public.excel.newusers.
For Excel:
- quickest solution, put an apostrophe (') in front of the numbers.
Alternatively:
- right-click the cell or range of cells you want to affect
- click "Format Cells" in the drop-down menu
- in the Number tab select "Number" and configure additional settings
(number of decimal places, use of comma, how to handle negative numbers)
- click OK
Or just select the format to be "Text" in the third step if that's really
what you want, though I'd hazard a guess that you're not yet familiar with
the difference - if it's text, you won't be able to manipulate it as a
number. Note that you'll still need to prefix the string of numbers with an
apostrophe.
If not using Excel, then you need to direct your request to the
manufacturers or use Google, although I'd imagine the procedure would be
very similar.
In either case, note that this is a rather basic level of question for
spreadsheets. It sounds like you need to get some training, a
foundation-level overview, before you undertake more tasks. The
application's own help system is a good source of information that it will
pay you dividends to acquaint yourself with.
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