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JohnD2410's avatar
JohnD2410
Copper Contributor
Mar 17, 2024

Format cells as text using excel that comes with the one drive pkg MS 365 office

There is no pull down to format cells as text. It keeps taking 10-1 and turning it into October 1. This capability exists in excel so how do I do it with Microsoft365 Office using excel?
Excel
office 365
JohnD2410's avatar
JohnD2410
Copper Contributor
I'm using it on a tablet so there is no ability to right click and I wanted to avoid manually adding ' then typing the data. I wanted to copy data like 10-1 without getting October 1. Thank for trying.
NikolinoDE's avatar
NikolinoDE
Gold Contributor
Mar 18, 2024

JohnD2410 

If you're using Excel on a tablet without the ability to right-click, you can still format cells as text using the following method:

 

    Select the cells that you want to format as text by tapping and holding on one of the cells until handles appear, then drag to select the desired range.

 

    Tap on the "Home" tab in the ribbon at the top of the screen.

 

    In the "Number" group, tap on the dropdown arrow next to "Number Format."

 

    Scroll down and tap on "Text" to apply the text format to the selected cells.

 

Now, any content you enter into those cells will be treated as text, and Excel will not automatically convert numbers or dates into other formats.

 

By following these steps, you can format cells as text without needing to right-click, allowing you to avoid automatic conversions such as changing "10-1" to "October 1."

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