How to Stop Excel From Changing Numbers?

Excel is a spreadsheet program developed and distributed by Microsoft. It is a part of Microsoft’s Office suite which includes some of the most essential programs used for office work. Excel has become an industry-standard over the past few years due to its perfect performance and numerous features. In this article, we will teach you the easiest methods to stop excel from automatically formatting numbers.

How to Stop Excel From Changing Numbers?

It was observed by some users that the numbers that they were entering were automatically being formatted to either dates or other formats. Below are listed some of the easiest and effective methods to stop excel from formatting the numbers automatically.

Method 1: Changing Format

It is important that the Format for the numbers is configured correctly to stop Excel from automatically formatting them. Therefore, in this step, we will be reconfiguring the format. For that:

1. Press “Shift” and select the cells where you want to enter the numbers.
2. Right-click anywhere on the cells after they have been selected and select “Format Cells“.

   

3. Click on “Text” and press “OK“.

   

4. Enter numbers in the selected cells and check to see if the issue persists.

Method 2: Entering Additional Sign

If changing the format for the cells isn’t something that is convenient for you, adding a symbol before entering the numbers should stop Excel from reformatting the numbers. For that:

1. Launch the spreadsheet where the numbers are to be entered.
2. Click on the cell where the numbers are to be added and enter the numbers like ” ‘(numbers)“.

   

3. Entering the ” ‘ ” symbol before writing down a number makes Excel consider the format of that cell as “Text“.

Method 3: Using Code

If the above methods seem like too much work to you, Excel can automatically be configured to force the “Text” formatting in all Workbooks. For that, some code needs to be entered inside the Workbook Code module. In order to do that:

1. Select the following code, right-click on it and select “Copy”

   Private Sub Workbook_Open()
   Dim sh As Worksheet
   
   For Each sh In Me.Sheets
       sh.Cells.NumberFormat = "@"
   Next
   
   End Sub

2. Open the workbook to which you want to add the code.
3. Press the “Alt” + “F1” keys simultaneously.
4. Click on “Insert” and select “module“.

   

5. Chose “Edit” where the cursor is flashing and select “Paste“.
6. Click on “OK” to add it.
7. Click on the “View” tab and select “Macros“.

   

8. Select the added code in order to run it.