Excel 2013

[psnative]

Where is "undo auto format" in excel/word 2013? I used to use works, but I had to upgrade b/c they no longer support works. I think I just right clicked in works & "undo auto format" came up but I can't find it in office. I see "undo" but that does not work for it.

 

[J515OP]

After an auto action a small box with a lightening bolt show appear at the bottom right of the area where the action took place (i.e. the range of cells). Click that and you should then see a menu that allows you to undo the auto action.



Undo or turn off automatic formatting - Excel - Office.com

 

[psnative]

ok, I get that now but it doesn't show up in this instance. I am in a spread sheet typing this number...0877. When I go to the next cell it takes the "0" off & no lightning box. I'll just use a "O" for now I guess.

 

[J515OP]

Ah, that is not so much auto formatting as cell formatting and the way Excel treats numbers by dropping the lead 0. If you don't need the number to be a number for calculating but rather a string of text (such as an employee number) then you can put ' (an apostrophe) at the beginning of the number and it will be treated like a string of text leaving the leading zeros but not showing the '.

 

[psnative]

That works! TY

 

[DOS]

If you still want to treat the value as a number instead of a string (for data manipulation or totaling). You can use Customer Formatting for the Cell(s) to create a "mask". For example: a mask of '00000' will make all values 5 digits with leading zeros (00123).

 

[J515OP]

If you still want to treat the value as a number instead of a string (for data manipulation or totaling). You can use Customer Formatting for the Cell(s) to create a "mask". For example: a mask of '00000' will make all values 5 digits with leading zeros (00123).

I figured that might be where it was heading but started with the easy stuff first