Converting out of a date

[ARJ]

I am importing date from an outside source. One of the import columns is a list of numbers with a hyphen eg. 1-0; 1-1 etc. when I import into excel it changes those numbers to a date (Jan-00; 1-Jan etc.). How do I stop excel from converting that column to a date? I want the info presented just as it comes from the original source.

 

[EWH]

maybe try right clicking on the row and format to GENERAL or NUMBER?

 

[ARJ]

I tried that and in either case, it gives me a 5 digit number that has no relevance to the information I am after.

 

[EWH]

if you type the infor as '1-1 eg then it will display corrently....im not sure how that will work with the imported data however

 

[Haldoug]

What if you format the cells as text before you import the data? I don't know if that will work, but give it a try