I did a google usenet search and found several instances similar to this
problem going back to 1999 with no real answers so there may not be, but here
goes.

I'm copying a table from a website and pasting into an Excel 2003
spreadsheet. One of the columns contains "3-0", and when I paste it, as soon
as xl sees this data it stores it as a date. I want it to stay as 3-0.
Here's what I have tried and have learned doesn't work...

* I have preset the cells, columns, and even the entire worksheet in
different attempts to text and to "custom" with "@" - no help. Data still
gets displayed as a date. when I try to change from a date format to a text
format I get the number 36586; "3-0" is lost forever.

* I have seen suggestions to do a paste special using only "values"; no
good. Since the paste is from a website the only paste special options are
"html, unicode text, & text".

* I have even seen attempts at viewing & tweaking the web site's html code,
but it's beyond me what you could do there to make the paste work differently.

Is anyone aware of any other methods to defeat Excel's insistent desire to
cheat me out of my desired cell format?

Thanks,
Steve