Text To Number HELP!

[Cranford803]

I have a cell which reads '100 - Dave Whitman'. The 100 is the depatment number that I need to extract. I used LEFT(Cell, 3) to extrat '100' from the cell. I now have a new cell with 100 in it. When i use that cell in formulas, it does not work because it is not a number. I tried changing the format to a number with no decimals. It still does not work. The only way it work is if I manually enter in 100 into that cell. I have a giant list that i need to convert to numbers. How do I do this so they are usable in formulas? (Using Excel 07)

Thanks for the help!!

 

[Jonmo1]

Welcome to the board...

Try

=LEFT(Cell, 3)+0


Also, if the number may be more or less than 3 characters, try

=LEFT(Cell, FIND(" ", Cell)-1)+0

 

[jasonb75]

try =--LEFT(cell,3)