Numbers not numbers ??

  • Thread starter Thread starter Neil
  • Start date Start date
N

Neil

Here's one I've seen before but it has not bothered me until now.

I have a column of 8 numeric digit part numbers (ie. 87634909) that are used
in a lookup
function that references another sheet thus, hlookup(cell containing no.
above, the other sheet, pickup the value, exact value).

The cells containing the lookups evaluate to an error.
When I edit the number above, ie. click in the cell then hit enter, the
lookups evaluate correctly and all is OK ?

It is as if the cell contents are seen as 'text' until they are edited or
re - typed then they evaluate correctly...

Any thoughts on why and how to fix this annoyance ?

Thanks.
 
Hi

Enter 1 (number one) in an empty cell. Copy the cell.

Select all the troublesome text-numbers cells, go menu Edit > Paste Special,
check Multiply and OK. The cells should now in theory force themselves to be
real numbers again.

Text leftaligns in cells, numbers right aligns. It's a fairly good idea not
to format those cells with a forced right/left/center alignment, so that you
can visually spot errors like this.
 
Back
Top