Customer Cell formating Question with Letter and Numbers

Hi,

I am hoping someone can give me an easy answer to this question.

I have a column of numbers that I import into a spreadsheet daily. The numbers are imported in this manner a123456789. The letters will always be in first, followed by 9 numbers. The letters will go from a-y.

How can I use the Cell Format function to get the numbers to appear like this "a-123-456-789". So that when I sort, the "y" will be last.

i just tried a sort without changing format and it sorted in alphabetical order any way

The sorting I am OK with...I guess what I really need to know is, how to get the "a123456789", into the "a-123-456-789" by just formating a cell. So it looks like this:

a123456789 a-123-456-789
h234567890 h-234-567-890

dont think you can custom format with text and numbers in cell
with your values in row a
use

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in an empty column
drag down to end of list
copy paste back special /values /over row a
delete column with formulas

Originally Posted by martindwilson

dont think you can custom format with text and numbers in cell
with your values in row a
use

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

in an empty column
drag down to end of list
copy paste back special /values /over row a
delete column with formulas

That will work. Thanks!

I was able to get as far as formatting the cell in the"-123-456-789" format. Just having trouble getting the first digit/letter to stick.