Copy and paste data changes from number format to date format

Hi Folks,
I have a problem with copying and pasting certain types of data onto an excel spreadsheet.
For example when I copy the following data
26 - 14
21 - 11
19 - 12
16 - 12
15 - 14
14 - 15
15 - 20
9 - 7
11 - 16
9 - 22
12 - 24

and paste it onto the set of cells / column, it changes to this:
26 - 14
21 - 11
19 - 12
16 - 12
15 - 14
14 - 15
15 - 20
7-Sep
16-Nov
22-Sep
24-Dec

I cannot get it to format itself back to the original format from the document I copied from.
Any help with the formatting trick to change the data back to the original format will be appreciated.
Thank you

If you're copying cells formatted as TEXT into blank cells, it should automatically copy the TEXT formatting... unless you are using the PASTE VALUES option, in which case it would revert back to GENERAL and convert to DATE format. You can try formatting the destination cells as TEXT before pasting the data into them... just a thought?

- Moo

After copying the data from post #3 into column A I used the test to columns feature > fixed width (manually place the partitions)> set the last group to text.
Let us know if you have any questions.

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