Excel geeks - I NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED you!

[bloss]

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[PortAndLemon]

Which version of Excel - 2003 or 2007 (or something else)?

[BecauseImWorthIt]

Have you tried setting it to 'general' - I think that has worked for me in the past. If not, just ignore me and wait till someone with more geeky skills than me comes along ....

[bloss]

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[AstronomyDomine]

type an apostrophe before the first 3 - the cell will then show exactly what's keyed in IYSWIM

[VinegarTits]

If you put and apostrophe before your text it will tell the cell it is text

So try putting '3E1 in the cell

This should work

[AstronomyDomine]

Great minds vinegar

[VinegarTits]

sorry x-posts

[VinegarTits]

[PortAndLemon]

Yes, you should have entered the codes as '3E1, '3E2, '3E3 to begin with.

Assuming you now have a long list to change, the quickest and best method is probably to turn on AutoFilter and filter your selection down to one malformed code at a time, correcting to '3E1 (or whatever) in the top instance and then copying that down through the selection.

[bloss]

Message withdrawn

[AstronomyDomine]

or just key in '3E1 then hover over the bottom right hand corner of the cell, hold down the right button and drag down, then release and select "fil series"

[AstronomyDomine]

... meant to add - hover over the bottom right hand corner of the cell until the cursor becomes a little black cross... then right click and drag down...