To change the data type of a cell (or region):

1. Right click > Format Cells…
2. Select the category and type for the data type (ie – catergory Date and type dd/mm/yyyy)

Cells with Numbers

There are shortcuts on the toolbar that may help you save time:

• For decimal numbers use the rounding buttons
• For percentages use the percent button

Cells with Dates

Sometimes when copying dates they appear as numbers (ie – 40179). The reason for this is at copy time the cell has been set to display data as a number and not a date. To correct simply change the data type to Date (explained above).

Cells with Text

Cells that contain text have different behaviour to those that contain numbers:

They automatically overlap empty adjacent cells to the right (the text belongs to cell in the J column below).

If the adjacent cells to the right contain text it doesn’t overlap and shrinks out of view.

There are two ways to correct this:

1. Double click the column divider to “Fit column to size”.

OR

2.  Format the cell to “Wrap Text”. Rick click > Format Cell… > Alignment (tab) > Wrap Text
It should now appear in the J column as should below: