I am importing data from another program into Excel. One of the fields being
imported is in the format #-#-# and when it gets to Excel it formats it as
Month day year (Ex. 5-1-5 is imported as May 1, 2005). How can I get it to
import into Excel as 5-1-5?

Format the cell as text before you enter the data.
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David Biddulph

"Beach Lover" wrote in message
...
I am importing data from another program into Excel. One of the fields
being
imported is in the format #-#-# and when it gets to Excel it formats it as
Month day year (Ex. 5-1-5 is imported as May 1, 2005). How can I get it
to
import into Excel as 5-1-5?

I too have a problem with this, but the answer is not as simple as you might think. Whenever I import stat data from a web page I want to copy the data just like it appears into an excel sheet. I don't want to waste time coping cell by cell data, so I highlight the complete table and then copy it. I then open up excel and highlight the entire sheet, then "Paste" not "Paste Special" that data into excel. This works great for just about everything except any data spaced by dashes (i.e."7-3"). Whatever format was previously setup is irrelevant to the excel program, and once it has changed it can no longer be changed back to the way it was! So, if anyone has the solution to this problem that would be great.

Cheers,
Brian


EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com

You may want to look at using Data|Import External Data|New Web Query.

It may do everything you want with no trouble.



Brian wrote:

I too have a problem with this, but the answer is not as simple as you might think. Whenever I import stat data from a web page I want to copy the data just like it appears into an excel sheet. I don't want to waste time coping cell by cell data, so I highlight the complete table and then copy it. I then open up excel and highlight the entire sheet, then "Paste" not "Paste Special" that data into excel. This works great for just about everything except any data spaced by dashes (i.e."7-3"). Whatever format was previously setup is irrelevant to the excel program, and once it has changed it can no longer be changed back to the way it was! So, if anyone has the solution to this problem that would be great.

Cheers,
Brian


EggHeadCafe.com - .NET Developer Portal of Choice
http://www.eggheadcafe.com

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Dave Peterson