Changing format of text/number in a cell?

[Claudette]

I have a long list of numbers in cells that stubbornly will not change to Number format. I imported the information from an ASCII file and for some reason the cell saved it as text rather than numbers. If i select the range and go into the format menu and change the format to Number, it has no effect on the cells!! The only way that it works is if i physically enter edit mode in each cell and press enter. This is all very terrible because my pivot table reads zero everywhere the number is in text format =(

please help!!

[Mark W.]

Select the values, choose the Data | Text to Columns... menu command and press [ Finish ].

[Barrie Davidson]

On 2002-03-08 11:04, Claudette wrote:
I have a long list of numbers in cells that stubbornly will not change to Number format. I imported the information from an ASCII file and for some reason the cell saved it as text rather than numbers. If i select the range and go into the format menu and change the format to Number, it has no effect on the cells!! The only way that it works is if i physically enter edit mode in each cell and press enter. This is all very terrible because my pivot table reads zero everywhere the number is in text format =(

please help!!

Claudette, check your e-mail, I sent you the formula you require. Another way to convert text values to numbers is to select the column, select Data|TextToColumns from the main menu and then follow the prompts.

Regards,