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Excel automatically requires date, want text

Last answer on Oct 30, 2009 9:50:22 pm GMT marnott, on Oct 30, 2009 4:33:52 pm GMT 
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Hello,
Halfway down an Excel column the cells start requiring all text in format of a date. Above, I can type text, below it requires 10/30/2009-type entries. I don't know what I changed but I need to type text. How do I do this?
thanks,
Mark

Configuration: Mac OS X
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1

xpcman, on Oct 30, 2009 4:45:46 pm GMT

You have changed the column FORMAT to date. You can right click the column header and select format and change it to text.

Good Luck

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2

marnott, on Oct 30, 2009 5:11:07 pm GMT

Thanks, and drat. That's just what I had thought, and tried changing it from the format menu on the side, from the drop down on the top, and now with the right click access and every time it reads "general" but behaves "date." I can't figure it out.

It starts just halfway down the column, above, no problem. I'm on a Mac, OSX, if that matters.

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3

xpcman, on Oct 30, 2009 6:41:53 pm GMT

That is a strange problem. Probably a file glitch of some kind. you might try to export the file and then importing it to a new spreadsheet. If you export it as a comma delimited file it will probably loose all its formatting and upon importing you can then reapply the formatting you want.

Good Luck

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4

marnott, on Oct 30, 2009 6:43:55 pm GMT

Is there some other way to change format other than from the format menus? Can I replace those cells requiring the date?

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5

xpcman, on Oct 30, 2009 6:54:27 pm GMT

I don't know the Mac version so I can't comment at all.

Reply to xpcman

6

marnott, on Oct 30, 2009 8:57:25 pm GMT

Thanks, xpcman, I tried that, to no avail. Maybe I can copy it all, paste it in another format, then try again to get what I want. Most peculiar. I don't think Mac or PC matters much, different key commands, but the programs run the same so far as I can tell. There's increasingly little difference, Mac to PC, nowadays, except that Justin Long is definitely getting the better movie career than the PC/Daily Show guy.

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7

 marnott, on Oct 30, 2009 9:50:22 pm GMT

Any help from anyone would be much appreciated. Don't worry if you are more versed in Mac or PC, if you know where the problem might be, or have an idea how to reformat the whole thing to rid it of this glitch, no matter what system you use, please let me know. I'm flummoxed.

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