Text to Number format
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From: Janet on 2 Apr 2010 08:35 I have copied a column of numbers to excel and now cannot apply any formulas because the numbers are text. How can I convert the text to numbers? Thanks. -- Janet
From: Gary''s Student on 2 Apr 2010 08:39 In an un-used cell enter 1 (as a true number). Copy this cell and paste/special/multiply onto the cells you would like to convert. -- Gary''s Student - gsnu201001 "Janet" wrote: > I have copied a column of numbers to excel and now cannot apply any formulas > because the numbers are text. How can I convert the text to numbers? > Thanks. > -- > Janet
From: Coco212 on 2 Apr 2010 10:01 perfect timing, I just exported a spreadsheet from an online source and am trying to make a chart but it is not recognizing numbers as numbers. I followed your steps but they still are not numbers unless I literally erase them and type them in again, which I don't have time to do (lots of cells). I selected them and changed the cell format to number, which you would think would work, also, but did not work. ???? Thanks for any help you offer, Synthia "Gary''s Student" wrote: > In an un-used cell enter 1 (as a true number). Copy this cell and > paste/special/multiply onto the cells you would like to convert. > -- > Gary''s Student - gsnu201001 > > > "Janet" wrote: > > > I have copied a column of numbers to excel and now cannot apply any formulas > > because the numbers are text. How can I convert the text to numbers? > > Thanks. > > -- > > Janet
From: Gord Dibben on 2 Apr 2010 10:42 After you changed the format to Number, did you follow the instructions about copy/paste special/multiply? Perhaps the cells have the dreaded non-breaking html spaces common with online sources. Select cells and Edit>Replace What: Alt + 0160 on numpad With: nothing Replace all. Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP On Fri, 2 Apr 2010 07:01:02 -0700, Coco212 <Coco212(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote: >perfect timing, I just exported a spreadsheet from an online source and am >trying to make a chart but it is not recognizing numbers as numbers. I >followed your steps but they still are not numbers unless I literally erase >them and type them in again, which I don't have time to do (lots of cells). >I selected them and changed the cell format to number, which you would think >would work, also, but did not work. >???? >Thanks for any help you offer, >Synthia > >"Gary''s Student" wrote: > >> In an un-used cell enter 1 (as a true number). Copy this cell and >> paste/special/multiply onto the cells you would like to convert. >> -- >> Gary''s Student - gsnu201001 >> >> >> "Janet" wrote: >> >> > I have copied a column of numbers to excel and now cannot apply any formulas >> > because the numbers are text. How can I convert the text to numbers? >> > Thanks. >> > -- >> > Janet
From: Joe User on 2 Apr 2010 11:01
"Coco212" wrote: > I followed your steps but they still are not numbers > unless I literally erase them and type them in again, > which I don't have time to do (lots of cells). First, I wonder if you are truly using Excel. (Apparently Excel 2007, according to your other posting.) When you exported, did you save the file first, then open with Excel; or did you simply allow the online source to open a window? If the latter, I wonder if you have actually have a work-alike like Open Office or Google Spreadsheet (which may actually be one in the same; I have not used either). Click on Help > "About ..." link, and check the product information (name and revision). Second, if you are truly using Excel, you should not need to "erase and type them again". It should be sufficient to press F2, then press Enter after ensuring that the cell format is Number. But of course, that might be tedious to do for "lots of cells". So try this macro: Option Explicit Sub doit() Dim c As Range For Each c In Selection c.NumberFormat = "General" c = c.Value Next c End Sub > I selected them and changed the cell format to > number, which you would think would work, also, > but did not work. That is not sufficient, at least not in Excel 2003, which I use. If you simply change the format, you do need to cause the cell to be recalculated, for example by pressing F2, then Enter. However, GS's procedure of copy-and-paste-special-multiply should work even without changing the cell format. At least, it does work in Excel 2003. ----- original message ----- "Coco212" wrote: > perfect timing, I just exported a spreadsheet from an online source and am > trying to make a chart but it is not recognizing numbers as numbers. I > followed your steps but they still are not numbers unless I literally erase > them and type them in again, which I don't have time to do (lots of cells). > I selected them and changed the cell format to number, which you would think > would work, also, but did not work. > ???? > Thanks for any help you offer, > Synthia > > "Gary''s Student" wrote: > > > In an un-used cell enter 1 (as a true number). Copy this cell and > > paste/special/multiply onto the cells you would like to convert. > > -- > > Gary''s Student - gsnu201001 > > > > > > "Janet" wrote: > > > > > I have copied a column of numbers to excel and now cannot apply any formulas > > > because the numbers are text. How can I convert the text to numbers? > > > Thanks. > > > -- > > > Janet |