In this tutorial we will cover how to both detect text and then convert text to numbers in Excel 2010.
A cool trick to detect text in a series of numeric values is using CTRL+SHIFT+# to quickly convert them to dates DD-MMM-YY format. Only the numeric values will be convert to text, otherwise they will remain unchanged.
Once you have detect if cells are text, there are some tricks you can use to quickly convert text to numbers.
There are several ways to create a checkmark or checkbox in an Excel worksheet. Here are a few of them.
You may find that sometimes after you import or copy data from a database or other external source, the numbers in your worksheet are actually stored in cells as text. This can cause problems with calculations and sorting, among other things.
A telltale sign that a number is stored as text is if the numbers are left-aligned in the column instead of right-aligned.
I’ve always found those small green triangles that sometimes appear in the upper-left corner of cells to be an annoyance and can get in the way of seeing neighboring cell values. These green triangles are actually Error Checking indicators.
Sometimes when numbers are entered into cells that are formatted as Text, these small green triangles appear. Since most times I just ignore them, I didn’t realize that they may contain a simple solution to converting text to numbers.
When you select a cell containing one of these small triangles an error icon appears. Point to the icon and you’ll see a small dropdown arrow. When you click on the arrow, one of the options is Convert to Number. Clicking it converts the numbers formatted as text back to numbers. A simple solution that I’ve always overlooked to convert text to numbers. Now you don’t have to.
Another option for converting text-formatted values to numbers is to multiply each cell by 1 in order to force the conversion to regular numbers. Since you are multiplying the contents of the cells by 1, the numbers still look the same, however, Excel actually replaces the text-based contents of the cell with a numerical equivalent.
6) Go back and delete the contents of the cell where you typed 1 in the first step.
For more Excel tips check out How to Quickly Edit Formulas and How to Select All Cells Matching a Criteria.