title: Display, sort and filter numbers with multiple decimal in excel 2007
body: <p>I'm using excel 2007.</p>
  
  <p>I've a list of tasks (200-500) that I need to group in different category/section etc (multiple filters). Whole data is in excel table so I can apply Excel's build-in table filters to display exact data that I need.</p>
  
  <p>However it is always difficult to apply multiple filter to display expected data, specially as I need to do it very frequently. To make things simple I'm planning to number each record like</p>
  
  <pre><code>a.b.c.d.e.f 
  
  Where a, b, c, d, e, f are simple numbers. List looks like:
  1
  1.1
  1.2
  1.2.1
  1.2.1.1
  1.2.2
  1.3
  &amp; so on.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Problem is, Excel take it as number with single decimal but as soon as I add second decimal, excel treat it as text, which is obvious in general behavior.</p>
  
  <p>However, as special case, I need excel treat both as number or text. Number is preferable as I want to sort them, which might be difficult as a text.</p>
  
  <p>To make the things little more complex, while filtering in table, I require if I can add some formula to filter results like <code>1.*</code> should display all numbers starts with <code>1.</code></p>
  
  <p>Is it possible with excel's default behavior, without VBA?</p>
  
  <p>If no, is it possible with VBA? If yes, any clue is appreciated. I don't need whole program as I can write basic VBA program, just a clue how it can be done?</p>