![]() This one tacks on a few decimal places, which you might not want. From the Number Format dropdown (in the Number group), choose Number, as shown in Figure D.With the values selected do the following: Unfortunately, the values are still stored as text. In the first pane, click the Fixed Width option-there are no delimiters.Click the Data tab and then click Text to Columns in the Data Tools group.Select the values as you did before and then do the following: ![]() It leaves the values in place and removes the leading zeros, but the values remain text, so you have to reset the format. The Text to Columns feature is incredibly easy. In addition, there’s no one-size-fits-all-situations solution. So, if you’re using an older version, you need another solution. Being able to select all the values at once is fairly new-originally, you couldn’t convert them all at once. With this easy method mentioned first, you might be wondering why I’m going to show you more. Select the second item, Convert to Number, to instantly convert all selected values to real numbers, and in place, as shown in Figure C.įigure B The SmartTag displays several possible problems.įigure C The SmartTag converts all the text values to real numbers instantly.įor better or worse, the conversion converts the values to General, not Number.The next item is the solution: Convert to Number. These SmartTags are indeed “smart.” The first item tells you that the number is stored as text-that’s the problem. Doing so displays a list of possible problems, as you can see in Figure B. Click the resulting SmartTag (if the SmartTag is already visible, click it without clicking the triangle).With the values selected, click one of the SmartTag indicators-the green triangle in the top-left corner of the cell-and do the following: (You must accommodate any blanks in the range.) Doing so will select all the contiguous values. To select the values quickly, select the first cell (B2) and press Ctrl + Shift+ Down Arrow. The only real disadvantage is that selecting a long list of values might be a bit awkward, so I’ll show you a shortcut to make that easier. You can do so by selecting a small range and choose Text from the Number Format dropdown in the Number group.įigure A These numbers are stored as text.įor my money, I like the SmartTag method the most because it converts the text values in place. I set the Text format myself to simulate the problem. If you check the Format setting in the Numbers group (on the Home tab), you can see that these values are text and not stored as real numbers. You can tell right away that they’re text because the numbers are left aligned, and they have leading zeros. Use SmartTagįigure A shows a short list of text values. The first method doesn’t work in Excel Online, but the other three do. For your convenience, you can download the demonstration. I recommend that you hold off on upgrading to Windows 11 until all the kinks are worked out. I’m using Microsoft 365 on a Windows 10 64-bit system. All four methods have their own pros and cons, so knowing them all will come in handy. In this Microsoft Excel tutorial, I’ll show you four easy ways to convert numbers stored as text to real numbers. SEE: 83 Excel tips every user should master (TechRepublic) When this happens, we must convert that text into numbers before we can use the data. On the other hand, we often receive data from a foreign source that should be stored as a number, but it stored as text at the source. For instance, a street address that begins with numbers-555 Town Street-is stored as text. ![]() Numbers stored as text in Microsoft Excel aren’t necessarily wrong. Support for these Microsoft enterprise products ends in 2023 Image: PixieMe/Shutterstock More about SoftwareĦ Best Free Alternatives to Microsoft Word (2023 Update)Ħ best free alternatives to Microsoft Excel in 2023 For more info, visit our Terms of Use page. This may influence how and where their products appear on our site, but vendors cannot pay to influence the content of our reviews. We may be compensated by vendors who appear on this page through methods such as affiliate links or sponsored partnerships. If you receive text values that should be real numbers, use one of these methods to get you back to the real work. Microsoft Excel depends on data that’s stored correctly. 4 quick and easy ways to convert numbers stored as text to real numbers in Excel
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