Excel is a useful tool when dealing with routine tasks and structured data. However, when venturing into unconventional uses, frustration can arise—especially with extensive datasets. I encountered one such challenge while handling client tasks in Excel.
Interestingly, it turns out to be a common issue when entering numbers containing dashes or slashes, which Excel interprets as dates (or something else entirely). If you're wondering whether you can disable automatic formatting, the answer is no. Nevertheless, there are methods to handle the format if it obstructs your access to the data.
Pre-format cells as text ------------------------This straightforward approach works well when inputting data into your sheet. To stop automatic formatting, follow these steps:
- Highlight the area where your unique data will go. This could be a single column or multiple columns. You might even select the whole worksheet by pressing Ctrl A.
- Right-click the selection and choose "Format Cells…", or press Ctrl 1.
- In the "Number" tab, pick Text from the Category list.
- Click Ok.
That’s it; any values entered in this column or worksheet will remain unchanged: whether they’re 1-4 or mar/5. They are treated as text, aligned left, and that's everything there is to it.
Tip: You can streamline this process at both the worksheet and cell level. Some experts recommend creating a worksheet template for repeated use:
- Format the worksheet as text using the steps outlined above.
- Save As… as an Excel template file type. Now, whenever you require a text-formatted worksheet, it’s readily available in your personal templates.
If you need text-formatted cells, create your own cell style under Styles on the Home ribbon tab. Once set up, you can swiftly apply it to the chosen cell range and input the data.
Alternatively, prefix the value with an apostrophe (') before inserting it. This essentially achieves the same result—formatting your data as text.
Use data import wizard in Excel to open existing CSV files
Solution #1 frequently failed for me since my data was already stored in CSV files, online sources, and other locations. Simply opening a .CSV file in Excel might obscure your records. Thus, managing external data becomes cumbersome.
Fortunately, there’s a workaround using Excel’s wizard. Follow these steps:
- Navigate to the Data tab and locate the first group on the ribbon—Get External Data.
- Click From Text and browse for the file containing your data.
- Use "Tab" as the delimiter. During the final step of the wizard, select "Text" in the "Column data format" section.
For further details, refer to:
- How to open CSV file in Excel
- How to resolve formatting issues when converting CSV to Excel
In conclusion, there isn’t a quick fix to ignore formatting altogether, but keeping these two solutions in mind will save you time. A few extra clicks won’t deter you from reaching your objective.
The above is the detailed content of 2 ways to avoid automatic formatting of numbers in Excel. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

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