Automatically recognize numbers, even in a cell already formatted as text?

Hello,

My boss seems to be able to enter numbers into cells that are formatted as Text, yet they will automatically be recognized as numbers when referenced in a formula,

however when I enter numbers into a cell formatted as Text, they aren't immediately recognized as numbers and I have to convert them.



Obviously it would save time to not have to convert them to numbers manually every time we enter info and clearly, somehow, my boss' computer is set up such that numbers are immediately recognized, even when entered into cells formatted as Text.


Can anyone guide me towards understanding what is going on here or how I could easily enter numbers that will be recognized as numbers by a formula?

Would the proposed solution be to create a list of the text values as numbers using the VALUE function that could then be referenced as numbers by a SUM function to calculate the sum of those numbers?

When I try to add a series of numbers from different cells using VALUE it instead creates a list of those values as numbers below the cell where I inserted the function.


For instance:
VALUE=(A1:A5) will create a list of the values found in those cells below the function cell as numbers

VALUE=(A1+A2+A3+A4+A5) will write the sum of those numbers in the function cell (which is my desired outcome with this solution) but obviously writing each cell name with a plus sign is inefficient


Is there any way to use the VALUE function to create a sum of many numbers found in text cells without manually indicating each cell name followed by another plus sign?